


Start your fate

by bluegreenish



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam Payne, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Beta Zayn Malik, Bottom Louis Tomlinson, Eventual Smut, F/M, I tried to tag now but it might change later, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Louis Tomlinson, Omega Niall Horan, Omega Verse, Pack Dynamics, Politics, Scenting, Top Harry Styles, so much scenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 66,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegreenish/pseuds/bluegreenish
Summary: “Did you two find me then?” Louis questions.Nodding, Liam points his head to the other man. “Harry did. I’m just here to check up on you.”Louis wants to mutter a thankful “that’s nice of you” towards Liam but is cut off because the strange man chooses this moment to speak up.“We haven’t met yet. I’m Harry Styles. Pack alpha of Holchap.”And fuck. Here he is, lying in a hospital bed, staring up at the pack alpha, who - out of all people- had rescued him the night before. And he's smelling bloody fantastic too.or, the one where Louis decides to join a nearby pack and Harry is the young pack alpha who's trying to juggle leading the pack and his personal life at the same time. A bit of a different a/b/o approach.
Relationships: Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan/Liam Payne
Comments: 169
Kudos: 303





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> (Late) merry Christmas and welcome to my new story!  
> I'm aware a/b/o isn't everyone's cup of tea and I honestly hope no one I know irl ever finds this, but I still wanted to give it a try because it allows so much world building and I love that. 
> 
> This is a work of fiction, I don't own anything but the effort I put into it and I don't mean to offend anyone. 
> 
> Enjoy reading! :)

“Welcome to Holchap information centre, how can I help you?”

Louis can’t believe he’s actually standing here, facing the friendly looking man behind the reception counter. His hands are shaky and he’s both been dreading and anticipating this moment for many, many months, maybe even years by now.

“Uh… Hello. Louis Tomlinson. I’m here to get an appointment for the first treatment?”

The man nods in understanding, clicking away on the PC screen in front of him, giving Louis a second to breathe in. He doesn’t even know why he’s _this_ nervous. This is going to be the first step into a new chapter of his life and that’s a good thing, right?

“How about next Friday? 10 am?” the man offers, looking up.

Louis’ first instinct is to whip out his phone to check his calender, but on a second thought, he’ll make room for this appointment one way or another.

“Yes, that works. Do I just come here again or…?”

Nodding again, the man fills out a little card with Louis’ appointment noted and hands it over the counter. “Yes. Dr. Corden will pick you up here after you’ve filled out the anamnesis and a couple other forms.”

After that, Louis is sent home with a hand full of informational leaflets he’s obliged to read at home before his appointment next week. Usually Louis wouldn’t exactly jump at the prospect of that, but it’s probably not a bad idea to know what he’s getting himself into. Too jumpy to actually concentrate on reading, Louis carefully folds the leaflets and stuffs them into his jacket’s pocket as he gets on the bus.

Louis’ going to join a pack. The pack of Holchap, bordering to the most western borough of Doncaster, to be exact. The idea has been in the back of his mind for a while now, at least since his second year of uni, but honestly, for as long as he can remember, it wasn’t ever _not_ there. The recent developments of his social environment are just encouraging even more to say fuck it and start over in a town he doesn’t know, with people he doesn’t know, even if that seems a bit radical.

He’s not completely clueless, of course, having spent night after night gathering information on research sprees, and despite the tense relationship of the human Doncaster and its bordering packs, it’s legally mandatory to at least cover the basics in secondary school.

Louis knows about the secondary genders in packs - alpha, beta and omega - and roughly what those entail. In most packs a strict hierarchy regulates the internal politics, with a pack alpha and his or her omega, supported by the pack beta. While pack betas are chosen by the pack alpha, that specific post is passed from generation to generation within the ruling family, essentially making all the packs monarchies within the monarchy of the UK. How that’s organised in different countries though, Louis doesn’t know.

Apart from the differences in structure of society, there’s also the aspects that _really_ intrigue Louis. Mating bonds, biological compatibility, pack dynamics,… the feeling of finding your place, of belonging somewhere. That’s what Louis hopes for at least, based on what he’s heard. However, it can’t be much worse than his life is feeling right now, because there’s not much holding him in Doncaster anymore to begin with.

So being the responsible young man he is, that night Louis sits down to go through the leaflets attentively, writing down questions to ask the doctor at his appointment and occasionally typing words into google to make sure he understands everything correctly.

Every day of what feels like a never-ending week, Louis extends his research and while he originally had the tiniest bit of a doubt, he feels more reassured in his decision the more he reads, both in the leaflets and on the internet. His family and his friends are going to declare him insane, but Louis’ always been one for drastic measures, and if this is the way to find happiness again, then he’s willing to take it.

Arriving at Holchap information centre ten minutes early, Louis checks his backpack for the bottle of water and the chocolate bar again, mildly paranoid that he’s forgotten it at home despite already having checked it twice on the bus ride. He gets dizzy when needles are involved sometimes, and he came alone without a person to drive him, so in case his first treatment physically sucks, Louis at least wants to make sure he’s not going to pass out on the way home.

Sadly, the friendly man behind the corner isn’t present today, but he’s replaced by a young lady who’s looking at least just as kind, receiving him with a genuine smile when he steps closer to the counter.

“Welcome to Holchap information centre, how can I help you?” she greets him with their standard welcome.

“Louis Tomlinson. I have an appointment for my first treatment?” It comes out more as a question than a statement and his throat feels weirdly itchy as he voices his concern, but the lady just smiles and scrolls through her PC.

“Ah yes, the first treatment. Before we’ll get to that, I need you to fill out these forms,” she informs him while ruffling around in a drawer to her right. “This is the anamnesis, this is an informational paper on Holchap medical care and on this form you need to sign that you agree with receiving medical treatment by the medical instances of our pack.”

Louis accepts the papers the woman holds out for him and tries not to show that he’s feeling slightly overwhelmed, but she seems to realise it as she hands him a pen as well. With an even wider and calming smile, she points towards the chairs down the hallway.

“Take your time reading through everything and don’t hesitate to ask me if you don’t understand something. I don’t bite, I promise.”

She’s only the second pack member Louis’ ever actively interacted with, and so far the rate of nice people is already 100%/100%. That’s more than he’d ever find in any of his other environments in Doncaster.

Louis thanks her and plops down on one of those row-chairs, placing the papers on the chair next to him and starting with the anamnesis. It’s filled with standard questions, reaching from contact data to medical history to allergies to his current sex life. Those questions feel a little invasive and awkward to answer, but Louis knows it’s best to be honest in this situation.

The paper on Holchap’s medical care such as covered insurance and more a/b/o info is surprisingly easy to understand and Louis signs that along with the agreement to treatment. He looks over the forms quickly to make sure he’s filled in everything required before he gets up and hands them to the reception lady.

Rationally he should probably feel nervous now, but he isn’t half as nervous as he was last week. This time, he’s mostly giddy to get started.

After skimming over the forms, the lady clicks on the PC twice before directing her attention to Louis again.

“If you’ll follow me then, please.”

She leads him down the hallway and takes a turn right, holding a glass door open for him before continuing their journey down the hall. Louis gets lost in trying to register everything around him, even if it’s mostly white walls with colourful paintings hung up and light blue linoleum floor. It reminds him of a hospital, and he guesses it kind of comes close seeing as he will be undergoing a medical treatment in just a few minutes.

They come to a halt in front of a door on the right and the reception lady knocks before opening the door.

“Mr Tomlinson is here,” she informs Dr. Corden, who’s sitting in an office chair behind a wooden desk, and hands him the forms Louis had just filled in.

“Come in and take a seat!” Dr. Corden welcomes him and extends a hand for Louis to shake. ”Dr. James Corden.”

“Louis Tomlinson.”

“So I heard we’re talking about your chlamydia today?” Dr. Corden starts off, his hands clasped on the desk.

“Uh. What?” Louis stutters. “No, I…”

Dr. Corden starts laughing when he sees how confused and on edge Louis is and shakes his head. “Just a joke. Don’t you worry Mr Tomlinson. I know you’re here for your first treatment,” he says and shakes the folder in front of him.

“Okay,” is the only thing Louis replies.

“Soo,” Dr. Corden draws out as he quickly reads over the forms. “These look good so far, I don’t see any reason not to start your treatment today.”

Letting out a relieved breath, Louis nods for Dr. Corden to go on.

“However, I am obliged to perform a physical examination before we get to that. It’s just the normal check-up stuff though, nothing unusual.”

Having expected something like this, Louis follows the instructions easily and is done with measuring his blood pleasure, weight and the likes in less than fifteen minutes. Luckily, Dr. Corden is content with each result as he takes a seat again.

“Everything looks good so far. Now before we get started, I need to make sure you’re informed about the whole medical procedure following your first shot today.”

Once again, Louis gulps but nods. He’s unbelievably glad Dr. Corden seems nice enough, because Louis hates talking to strange doctors. Especially when it’s about something as intimate as this.

“If you decide to go through with your decision, you’ll receive the first of three shots today. After the second shot, your transformation cannot be stopped,” Dr. Corden emphasises forcefully, eyeing Louis to make sure he’s processing the information.

“Okay.” Louis’ known all of this before, obviously, but it grounds him to hear a medical professional addressing the life-changing consequences that will come with Louis’ decision.

“The appointments for your treatment will be two weeks apart each and you’ll be given high dose hormone pills to take in between. Religiously, I might add, or they’ll properly mess with your body.”

“I’ll be careful,” Louis assures and mentally repeats Dr. Corden’s words like a mantra like that’ll save him from forgetting.

“Your transformation to one of the three secondary genders will only start once your third shot has kicked in. Out of safety precautions it’s strongly advised to stay within the Holchap territory until we can without a doubt determine your gender.”

Dr. Corden carries on, shortly summarising everything Louis’ already been aware of concerning the genders and what comes with presenting. Still, Louis pulls himself together and forces himself to listen intently, making sure he misses not a single detail. The more Dr. Corden talks about what life in a pack looks like, the more Louis can’t wait to just _get started_. He _wants_ that.

“Now, Mr Tomlinson, do you have any questions at this point?”

Pondering for a second, Louis sorts the many, many thoughts swimming around in his head before nodding.

“I do actually,” he says and hesitates. “Maybe it’s a stupid question, but…”

Before he can doubt himself any more, Dr. Corden interrupts him. “There’s no stupid questions here.”

“Are you able to tell what I’ll be? What gender I mean?”

He doesn’t want to look at Dr. Corden in case it is a stupid question after all, but Louis hasn’t found reliable sources concerning the prediction of secondary gender in turned humans online or elsewhere, and it’d be sort of nice to be able to mentally prepare himself before actually presenting. Dr. Corden shakes his head before answering verbally, licking his lip and putting down the paper he’s been holding in his hand.

“It’s not that easy, unfortunately. What secondary gender you’ll turn out to be depends on many factors, some of which are little to not researched at all.”

That answer is not satisfactory at all, so Louis pushes again. “So you don’t have any clue at all? Not even the smallest suspicion?”

Dr. Corden chuckles and clicks the pen he’s fiddling with. “You’re really curious, aren’t you?”

Smiling, Louis shift in his seat and shrugs. “I mean, yeah. I want to know what my future might look like.”

“Understandable,” Dr. Corden nods. “I’m not allowed to express assumptions concerning the secondary gender of my patients, but I can list some objective information that might give you some hints,” he adds with a wink. Louis grins and encourages the doctor to continue.

“Now bare in mind, these are all generalised stereotypes and don’t mean to harm to anyone not meeting these norms,” Dr. Corden claims. “But there are typical differences in body types. The average alpha is above 6 feet, the average omega shorter than 5’5 feet, betas swaying in between this range.”

According to this, Louis’d present as a beta, just cutting the 5’9 feet. And honestly, he doesn’t know how he feels about that. The idea of escaping his life in Doncaster is to find a deeper meaning, after all, a feeling of belonging somewhere and to someone, eventually, and the whole concept of alpha/omega bond mates appeals to Louis much more than what he’s heard about life as a beta so far.

“Now naturally, body type isn’t only height. Typically, alphas tend to be more on the broad and muscle-y side while most omegas have more prominent curves, like wider hips for example.”

This sparks Louis’ interest because even when he had trouble admitting it in his early teens, he does sport more prominent curves than any of his mates at home. Back then he used to be embarrassed about his hips and waist, wishing to be fit and broad. Only when he started to figure out that he’s most likely more into lads than into birds he became more confident about his body.

Now, would Louis like being an omega though? From what he’s seen online, omegas are generally seen as the weakest gender, physically and in their social position. They’re what humans would call the typical bottom, a twink maybe. Which - kind of fits Louis.

Nonetheless, Louis tries to keep an open mind and follow Dr. Corden’s monologue. It’s no use getting caught up in wild assumptions now anyway.

“Aside from the physical aspects, you can also find correlations between secondary gender and personality traits. While alphas usually score significantly higher on extraversion dimensions, omegas score highest in agreeableness. In some studies, betas peak in conscientiousness, but that still needs to be researched further.”

Having a degree in Psychology in the community, Louis isn’t a stranger to the phenomenon that is personality. In his first year one of his profs made them take a BFI personality test and Louis still remembers his results clearly. Out of his friends group, he’d scored highest in extraversion, surprising some but not many. And often times, extraversion comes with a certain level of dominance, which Louis would think fits the image of an alpha that Dr. Corden had just painted. Sure, a lot has changed since then, but aren’t certain personality traits relatively stable over time?

So what does Louis think about turning out an alpha? Being the strongest member of society, the stronger counterpart to a potential omega mate?

“So as you can see, it’s quite a complex topic. I suggest you just let it come your way. But keep in mind, there’s no way to reverse your decision or switch genders or anything along the lines.”

Agreeing to get these shots is a definite cut then, in a way. The first one not yet, maybe, but the second one for sure.

What can he say? Louis can’t wait.

“I’m aware,” he nods seriously.

Mustering him for a second, Dr. Corden tilts his head to the side. “You seem sure of your decision.”

“I am,” Louis confirms with the hint of a smile playing around his lips. “I’ve been for quite some time now.”

“Great,” Dr. Corden claps his hands and gets up to grab a syringe from one of the cabinets to his right. “Let’s get started then!”

The shot sucks massively, to be honest. It stings and Louis feels the liquid spread in his upper arm uncomfortably, but he clenches his teeth and tries his best not to be a whiny pussy. Dr. Corden smiles sympethically when he sees Louis’ tense facial expression.

“All done,” he says and gets rid of the used syringe.

“That hurt,” Louis admits and whimpers quietly as he moves his arm to pull on his sweatshirt jacket again.

“I’m sorry, there’s little I can do about that,” Dr. Corden replies as he scribbles down something on the pieces of paper that belong to Louis’ patient record. While Louis gathers his things and hops down the patient bed, Dr. Corden opens the cabinet once again and sorts through some bottles and packages before pulling out multiple blisters full of pills and placing them on the desk between them.

“These are your new best friend. As I said, they’re highly dosed and I recommend taking them around the same time everyday, thrice a day. If you feel any undesired side effects, don’t hesitate to call us. But it’s all in these documents as well,” he summarises and points to one of the papers in front of him.

“Alright. Anything else I need to consider?” Louis asks, trying to take everything in. Maybe he’ll type down everything he remembers in his phone as soon as he leaves Dr. Corden’s room.

“Rest your arm, no excersise for the next two days. You should be good then.”

Smiling back at Dr. Corden, Louis gets up and accepts the documents and pills he’s handed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. See you next week!”

After booking an appointment for his second appointment at the reception and sitting down to drink some water and eat the granola bar he brought, Louis heads home. He’s not dizzy for now, but his immune system definitely responds to the shot, making him feel hot all over. Despite intending to call Stan that night, Louis goes to bed at not even eight because he feels so exhausted. He wakes up once from the pain in his arm that night because he’s a restless sleeper and turns too much in his sleep. _It’s going to be worth it though,_ he tells himself with a smile.

The next four weeks are relatively eventless, not much happening with his friend group or his job at the supermarket. Fortunately, the hormone pills don’t mess with his body except for feeling more tired than usually, but he can handle that.

Louis goes to receive his second treatment and Dr. Corden once again is required to ask whether he’s aware that this is a final decision, and once again he confirms in a serious tone. Like last time, the shot itself hurts like a bitch, maybe even more than last time, but Dr. Corden cheerily reminds him that there’s only one shot left now.

When Dr. Corden asks whether Louis has any questions, Louis dares to ask what secondary gender the doctor is. “As I obviously can’t smell you,” he adds. For a second he’s scared that he’s gone too far with that question, maybe it’s impolite to ask something as personal as that in the world of packs.

Thankfully though, Dr. Corden just nods with a smile, willing to answer. “I’m a beta myself. So even when you’ll be starting to smell pack members, there will probably scents that you’ll pick up more easily.”

Back at the reception, Louis has a longer conversation with the receptionist, still having to sort out a couple matters. Like moving to Holchap, for example, as that is not only strongly advised in combination with the third shot, but also what Louis had intended too. His family is not understanding at all when it comes to that, at least the family members who are old enough to fully understand his decision, but to certain levels also indifferent. Louis’ an adult who's gotten his bachelor while still living with his dad, so everyone saw him moving out coming. Just not necessarily to the pack of Holchap.

Becoming a pack member is a bit different than what Louis had expected, but in a very positive way. Until he’s a fully functioning member of the society, a flat will be provided and medical insurance will be covered for him. It’s a whole different tone than talking to human authorities like in Doncaster.

Luckily, he’s told his future flat is already completely equipped, which comes in handy seeing as his sister will take over his room and he won’t be able to bring any furniture and his bank account also doesn’t allow exuberant money spending. The only thing he’ll be bringing is a suit case with clothes and a backpack filled with his most precious personal items, like a laptop and a couple photos that have been adorning the wall above his desk.

And after another two weeks that draw like hot cheese between your teeth, Louis finally heads to Holchap to have his third shot. Signaling the start into a new life.

When he arrives at the information centre, he’s received by a relatively young, small woman who’s picking him up to guide him to the living residence he’ll occupy until he’s starting whatever job he’ll be working in and earning money himself.

It’s a fifteen minute walk from the information centre, leading the two of them further into the heart of Holchap. Call Louis naive and incautious, but he’s never actually been to Holchap other than the information centre. It’s uncalled for, humans visiting pack territory. The thing is, humans stick out like a sore thumb in the pack life, seeing as they don’t carry any specific scent with them other than the obvious human smell Louis guesses they all possess. Pack members on the other hand could walk Doncaster’s street and wouldn’t attract attention unless they behaved particularly noticeable.

But to be honest, must humans don’t ever think about visiting pack territory anyways though.

The flat the woman drops him off at is tiny but neat, designed for people who are personally struggling with any aspect of their life, or people like Louis, new pack members who are trying to settle in.

Louis puts down his suit case in the middle of the room when there’s a knock on the door, causing both the information centre woman and him to turn and eye the man who’s slowly entering.

“Perfect, you’re already here,” a wide, genuine smile spreads across the man’s face as he fully steps in and towards Louis.

“I’m Liam Payne, pack beta of Holchap. It’s a pleasure to welcome you to our pack!” he says and extends his hand for Louis to shake. “I’m sorry I was unable to pick you up from the centre, that’s usually my job, but I’m sure Diana did a terrific job as well.”

Returning the smile, Louis nods and shakes the pack beta’s hand. How is he supposed to act around him? Is there an etiquette on how to behave? How much of an authority is Liam even?

“Yes, thank you.” He just opts for standard friendly and tries to radiate gratefulness. It’s amazing how every single pack member he’s meett as of now is making him feel welcome and comfortable.

“You can find any information and important contacts you might need in the folder on your desk,” Liam informs him as points over to the right corner of Louis’ room. “We’ll leave you to unpack and get used to the flat for now, but if you’re up for it a friend of mine offered to do a little tour around Holchap with you later?”

Slightly taken by surprise, Louis needs a second before agreeing. “Uh, sure. That sounds nice?”

Obviously catching how overwhelming the whole situation is for Louis, Liam smiles again, even though he hasn’t really stopped in the first place. Clasping his hands together, he makes to turn around before reminding Louis, “if you have any concerns or questions, don’t hesitate to approach anyone. It’s important to us that you to feel comfortable and in good hands.”

Hearing that from a pack official who made sure to greet Louis _personally_ almost makes his heart melt. He thanks both Liam and the information centre lady again before they turn around to head out, leaving Louis alone in his new home. That’s what Louis hopes it’ll feel like in the future, at least, but honestly he’s already on a good way there.

It’s shortly after noon when there’s a knock on his door again and Louis hesitantly abandons his suit case to open it. He’s greeted with a brunette boy around his height, a wide grin plastered on his face, instantly calming Louis’ nerves.

“Heyo, you must be Louis right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Nice!” the boy cheers. “I’m Niall Horan. Omega. Welcome to the pack!”

Niall looks like he’s the definition of energetic, talking loudly and with a slight, barely noticeable accent.

“Thanks,” Louis repeats, unsure what else to say. At least it looks like their conversation won’t be awkward and dry if Niall keeps up that attitude.

“I heard you agreed to a little tour ´round the town?” Before Louis even gets a chance to answer, Niall clasps his hands. “Well then, let’s go!”

After Louis has locked up the front door to his flat, Niall basically drags him down the hallway and outside, going on about the most important places to know in Holchap. There aren’t necessarily that many as Holchap is barely more than a village, which is common for packs in Northern England, but Niall seems to adore every last corner.

They’ve just passed the grocery store and the pharmacy when Louis finally finds his words and voices a question to up his share of speech a bit.

“I’ve got a question - if you don’t mind of course.”

“Of course not, shoot.”

“You introduced yourself with your secondary gender. Is that common?”

Niall shakes his head and interrupts their conversation shortly to point at the kindergarten. “It isn’t, but I can’t smell you yet, meaning you can’t smell my status either. Thought I’d spare you the asking,” he explains and shrugs.

“That’s… nice of you,” Louis says because it really is.

They continue their tour until Louis’ seen half of Holchap, especially “downtown”. Niall tells him that he hasn’t got much longer as he’s arranged to meet some friends later on, but that he’ll see Louis around for sure. Already at this point Louis can say he’s glad to have met Niall.

He pops into the grocery store on his way home to the flat, and it has a whole different aura around it as it isn’t a multi-million pound supermarket chain but rather an independet little shop that offers loads of local food.

Louis’ scheduled for his third shot early the next morning so after fixing himself some easy pasta meal for dinner, Louis decides to call it a night relatively early. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean he’s able to fall asleep right away as the jittery anxiety of what’s about to happen tomorrow and the days after keeps him wide awake. It’s a good kind of nervous though, so he just tells himself he’ll catch up on the missed sleep the next day.

When he arrives at Dr. Corden’s room the next morning, he’s tired as fuck with dark bags under his eyes but an excited smile on his face that even the doctor comments on.

Louis’ never been more glad to be done with a shot because quite honestly, the third and last one is _hell._ It stings and burns and it’s the biggest amount of liquid injected yet, so no wonder. He hisses until it’s over and Dr. Corden sticks a band aid over the tiny wound, once again telling him to take it easy the rest of the day.

“You can stop taking the hormone pills as of today,” he adds. “We’ll schedule you for a follow up appointment tomorrow morning where we’ll most likely be able to determine your secondary gender.”

It’s only a single day left now until Louis knows what secondary gender he’ll have, determining basically the rest of his life to a certain extent. He shifts restlessly in his chair, only noticing how agitated he’s acting when Dr. Corden shoots him an understanding smile.

“Exciting, innit? Not long now.”

Following Dr. Corden’s recommendation, Louis heads home after a walk around the marketplace to get some fresh air after the shot. His flat came with a telly that Louis intends on using until he falls asleep and wakes up bright and early the next morning to _finally_ get tested.

Except that’s not what happens, not by a long shot. Louis’ indeed is in bed by nine in the evening, so far so good. Due to the lack of sleep the previous night he’s also able to fall asleep easily, just that he quickly realises something is very, very wrong when he wakes up at 1.30 in the morning instead of the 7 as he had planned to. His entire body feels hot and sticky like he’s been sweating buckets and he feels sick to his stomach.

Of course this would happen to him out of all people. As far as he knows he’s not allergic to any other medication he’s taken in his life, but there’s always a first time, eh?

For a few minutes Louis tries to convince himself that he’ll just go back to sleep and he’ll wake up peachy as ever tomorrow morning. He turns and tosses around to find a position that doesn’t make him feel like he’s about to puke all over his bed sheets, but he mostly remains unsuccessful. After another ten minutes in agony, he considers what options he has.

He read over the contact information provided in the folder on his desk before he went to bed, but he’s not sure who to call. Who’s even available at 2 at night? His best guess is the A&E then, except he doesn’t know where that is. He knows the information centre has a single emergency room because he’s passed that whenever he went into Dr. Corden’s room. He’s just not sure the information centre will be occupied right now.

At some point, thinking isn’t enough anymore and Louis’ sure he won’t be feeling better on his own anytime soon, so he slips into his trainers and pulls on a jacket before closing the door behind him as quietly as possible. He hasn’t met any neighbours yet but it’s probably not a good welcome present to wake them up by banging the door in the middle of the night.

The crisp air outside helps a little and Louis takes a deep breath before looking around. There’s mainly two directions to choose from, either towards the information centre or the marketplace. He opts for the first and starts walking while also reminding himself to breathe, no matter how squeasy he feels.

Turns out, heading in a direction that he doesn’t recognise in the dark at all was a proper stupid idea and his desperation grows as he looks around only to realise he’s lost. What the hell is he supposed to do now? He surely just can’t sit down and cry for help like a five year old, even though he’s close to doing just that.

Somewhere behind a corner he hears people nearing, with light foot steps and hushed talking. Louis’ not able to focus on that though, because his head is spinning despite having stopped walking. Not even closing his eyes and clutching his stomach helps and he only realises he’s passing out when his knees buckle and he isn’t able to see the street light even when his eyes are open.

Waking up in a hospital is nothing like in the movies. Louis realises he’s most likely in medical care before he even fully opens his eyes because there’s a bloody IV hooked to his arm and he’s despised that feeling ever since his hospital stay for a cruciate ligament tear two years back.

What he hasn’t expected though, was the a strong scent permeating the air.

“Mh, smells good,” he mumbles and only notices he said that out loud when he blinks his eyes open to a ginger nurse and an unknown man by his bed. The latter doesn’t look like medical staff, seeing as he is wearing scrubs or anything like that. Instead he’s wearing a fancy brown jumper and Louis notices he’s been caught staring at the shoulder-length brown curls framing his face when he’s meeting the man’s eyes, causing Louis to break their eye contact hastily.

The nurse present asks to be excused on Louis’ behalf as she has to run a few standard medical tests now that Louis’ is conscious again, and the man leaves for the hallway where Louis can hear another voice talking until the door is closed.

“Do you know where you are, Mr Tomlinson?” she asks as she checks his vitals.

“I only moved to Holchap two days ago so I don’t know where exactly, but I’m guessing in a local hospital?” he replies, trying to come across as lucid as possible.

The nurs nods. “That’s correct, you’re in Holchap’s omega care unit.”

At that, Louis sputters and almost chokes on his on spit. “What? Why am I in the omega care unit?”

Scribbling down notes on a clipboard, the nurse pushes a couple buttons on the monitor next to Louis before answering. “Well as it seems, you’ve presented as an omega, Mr Tomlinson.”

“I… presented as an omega?” Louis repeats slowly and he’s sure it sounds dumb, but he needs to make sure he understood correctly. The nurse nods in confirmation.

“Yes.”

Louis leans back against the pillow and takes a deep breath, trying to registering everything that’s been happening in the last couple minutes. He presented as an omega. He presented as an omega!

So, how’s he supposed to feel about this now?

“But I had an appointment with Dr. Corden in the morn-, wait, what time is it?” he interrupts himself.

“7.45 am,” she replies after checking the time on the monitor. So Louis had been out for almost six hours already.

“So this tonight… that was my … first… heat?” he blushes as he stutters out the words, because despite being in a professional medical setting, he still feels embarrassed asking these kind of questions. From what he’s gathered so far, mating cycles are a rather intimate topic.

“Oh no,” the nurse denies. “This was just your body reacting to the third shot. It’s the most potent one as it’s meant to kick-start the transformation processes in your body.”

“But why did I present this early then? Dr. Corden said he’d be able to determine my gender when I came in for the appointment.”

The nurse shrugs as she rounds the bed and inspects Louis’ IV. “It is uncommon to present this early, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

Hearing that the nurse seems to think calm about the incident makes Louis a lot less stressed as well. Nothing’s wrong with him. He presented and that’s why he was feeling like shit last night, he doesn’t have any allergic reaction or a terrible disease.

After another couple minutes, the nurse finally leaves him alone and Louis closes his eyes, allowing himself to rest after the eventful night he’s had. Not that he really remembers anything despite wandering around helplessly.

His eyes immeaditely fly open when there’s a knock on the door and for a moment Louis hesitates to answer but in the end, he rasps out a neutral “come in?”

Two men enter his room, one of which Louis recognises as the man from before and the other one as Liam, the pack beta. Liam’s also the first to speak up where he’s standing a couple feet from Louis’ bed.

“Hello Louis. How are you feeling?”

“Uh, good… I guess?” Louis replies and it’s sort of ironic seeing as he’s still propped up in a hospital bed. He can’t concentrate on that though, because with the strange man the striking scent followed.

“That’s good to hear,” Liam smiles, visibly relieved.

“Did you two find me then?” Louis questions.

Nodding, Liam points his head to the other man. “Harry did. I’m just here to check up on you.”

Louis wants to mutter a thankful “that’s nice of you,” towards Liam but is cut off because the strange man chooses this moment to speak up.

“We haven’t met yet. I’m Harry Styles. Pack alpha of Holchap.”

And _fuck._ Here he is, lying in a hospital bed staring up at the pack alpha, who - out of all people- had rescued him the night before. And he's smelling bloody fantastic too. 

Instead of returning a formal “nice to meet you, I’m Louis Tomlinson, thank you for helping me,” Louis’ mind just blanks and he blushes in embarrassment.

“God, I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t cause any trouble.”

Harry, or pack alpha Styles, Louis doesn’t know what to address him in his mind or in real life, is surrounded by a certain aura that radiates confidence, power, dominance maybe. But surprisingly, Louis doesn’t feel too intimidated, no, he rather feels like he should be _admiring_ the man.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. You were lucky Mr Horan and I saw you collapsing though, because I don’t think anyone else was around.”

“Thank you,” Louis says, suddenly feeling kind of uncomfortable where he’s in a mostly horizontal position, feeling like the two men are staring down at him.

“I suggest you take it easy the next couple days, make sure to get fit again,” Liam starts. “If you’re feeling good enough on Monday, you should be able to start your inclusion soon.”

Louis’ read about that in the information folder and also occasionally online. Most packs offer new members a period of time to get acquainted to the pack’s manners and customs and the pack of Holchap is no exception. It’s a four week course in the community centre, if Louis remembers correctly.

“Sounds good,” Louis comments. Despite being exhausted, Louis wants to emit the impression that he’s on board with whatever becoming a Holchap pack member contains. He’s serious about this.

Liam and Harry tell him to get well soon before leaving to tend to whatver their duties entail on a Saturday morning. And while there are a million and one thoughts taking up Louis’ brain, he still can’t help but notice how he mainly notices Harry’s smell. But maybe that’s just because both Liam and the nurse are betas. Who knows.

Louis is the laziest he can be for the rest of the weekend and spends most of the day and the whole night sleeping off the exhaustion and remaining sickness. The doctor he talked to before being released recommended drinking tea and eating dry toast in case he feels nauseous again, but luckily Louis doesn’t need that anymore.

With Monday comes Louis’ first day of inclusion period and also lessons at community centre where he’ll receive basic education. The student body consists of secondary or college students, members who are working off their community hours and people of any age who are interested in the topics covered. A good mix of everyone, basically.

The community centre is a modern building, with loads of windows and a nice, small campus-like seating area outside. It must be relatively new, Louis reckons, because most of Holchap’s architecture seems to have more history, being built many decades prior.

Louis is given a schedule with his classes when he introduces himself to the headmaster.

 _A/b/o social science and law, a/b/o and regular history, a/b/o dynamics, basic biology_ and another class that apparently each member takes depending on what secondary gender they presented as, focusing on life as an omega in Louis’ case.

He knows it’s delusional to think he’d find friends immediately after stepping a foot into the class room, because most of the time that’s not how being “the new one” works. At least the a/b/o dynamics teacher of his first class, who’s a maximum of five years older than Louis, seems nice enough. He introduces himself as Nicholas Grimshaw, but tells them it’s fine to just call him Nick. Very different from the authority-greedy teachers Louis had back in school and college.

Louis’ first class is interesting, easy to follow despite starting in the middle of the course and all in all enjoyable. If the following four weeks are just like that, he won’t mind waking up early in the morning to go here. Perhaps his excitement also has to do with the fact that for him, there won’t be any mandatory exams to take, other than some of the students in his class. Which sucks for them, but Louis’ glad he’s not in their position, to be honest.

When he steps out of the community centre at shortly after 1.30pm with classes lined up in the afternoon, he considers what to do for lunch as he definitely isn’t in the mood to go home and cook. In the end he decides to walk around the village in search of something to eat and maybe get used to the environment some more.

“Louis!” he suddenly hears from behind. He turns around to see Niall approaching him, already smiling. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“Hi, I’m good. Just had my first inclusion class. You?” Louis says.

“Oh, exciting! Yeah, I’m good too. Was just on my way to grab some lunch before my shift.”

“Can you recommend any places for lunch then? I actually am looking for somewhere to grab a bite too,” Louis asks, glad that even small talk like this is so easy-going with Niall.

Niall nods enthusiastically. “Of course! You’re asking just the right person. If you’re up for it, you could tag along right now.”

“Sure,” Louis agrees easily, endlessly relieved that he won’t only be getting proper food but also company. It’s also surprising how spontaneous this is, because coordinating a lunch date with his two best friends in Doncaster always requires severe planning skills, a specific astronomical constellation and beer as a bait.

Apparently Niall leads them to Café Malik, which is just a couple minutes by foot. The walk there doesn’t ever get quiet with Niall asking how his flat, his first couple days and his inclusion classes are, to which Louis answers that he’s very content so far but it’s sort of strange to be back in school for now.

Café Malik is home-y. That’s Louis first impression as soon as he steps inside with Niall in front of him because he knows his way around. The ambience is familiar, if that makes sense, and just likes a place Louis’d like to spend a lot of time in the future, maybe with a group of friends.

Niall greets the bartender behind the bar who’s currently drying off some glasses with a towel. There’s an impressive arrangement of various alcoholic beverages stocked up behind him, but before Louis can focus on that any longer, Niall walks off towards one of the light brown wooden tables, pulling Louis along.

“My friend’s parents own the place,” Niall explains as he takes a seat on the bench. “Sometimes they give me food for a mate’s rate. Well, most of the time actually.”

“That’s nice,” Louis comments and looks around as he settles across from the omega.

“He actually just had a baby, my friend Zayn. Mavis, cute as heck,” Niall swoons as he grabs the menu.

“Mavis’ the baby?“

Niall nods. “His girlfriend’s called Gigi. She’s just as cool as him. Maybe a bit cooler, even,” he jokes.

It doesn’t take long for a waitress to come up to them and take their orders. Louis hasn’t gotten a look at the menu yet and when he asks Niall what he can recommend, the other boy just shrugs and says he likes everything here, so in the end Louis just goes along with what Niall orders.

They fall into easy conversation again as they wait for their food to arrive, and Louis really enjoys it, especially because with Niall, nothing turns awkward at all, which is a skill Louis admires.

When Niall tilts his head back to chuck the rest of his water, Louis notices a hickey on his neck, but as Louis can’t smell very well yet, he can’t tell whether Niall’s mated to an alpha. Or rather, dating, because he thinks Niall’d have a mating bite on his neck if he were bonded already. However, despite believing that Niall wouldn’t mind too much, Louis doesn’t bring up the topic, not wanting to intrude on such intimate things so early in their friendship.

Once the meals arrive, they dig in and Louis watches with wide eyes how fast Niall is able to eat his food. Naturally, he finishes way quicker than Louis, who’s only cleared his plate half-way when Niall puts down the cutlery.

“I love Trisha’s food, man,” he sighs like he’s sad his food is gone already.

“It’s really good,” Louis agrees between two bites.

“Zayn actually almost become pack beta,” Niall suddenly mentions, springing back in topics. With his mouth full, Louis only makes a questioning sound to encourage Niall to go on.

“He didn’t though. The pack beta is chosen by the pack alpha, Harry in our case,” Niall explains.

Louis almost blushes at the mention of the Harry. The pack alpha, who had found him and brought him to the hospital. Who was also pretty handsome.

“Yeah, I’ve met him shortly,” Louis throws in.

“Harry did ask Zayn when he became pack alpha, but Zayn declined. Liam’s been pack beta ever since. It’s very untraditional for an alpha to take the position of the pack beta, but he’s doing an amazing job, so it’s fine.”

So Liam’s actually an alpha? Louis doesn’t know why, but he hadn’t even considerd that option. Of course, his sense of smell isn’t developed as of yet, but in the hospital Louis was only able to smell Harry, not Liam, which is strange. Maybe it’s because the pack alpha’s smell is the strongest?

“Why did Zayn decline?” Louis asks and only realises a second later that this might not be an appropriate question. “I mean, uh…”

With the wave of his hand, Niall signals him that it’s okay. “He just didn’t want to. Said he doesn’t feel like he fits the post,” Niall shrugs. “Plus, Mavis was already on the way.”

“How long ago was that?”

Niall takes a second before answering, doing the mental maths. “Around eight months, I think? Yeah, eight and a half months maybe. Last summer.”

“Harry only became pack alpha eight months ago?” Louis asks in surprise. He knows Harry is still fairly young for the average pack alpha, so it makes sense he only took over recently.

“I mean, yeah,” Niall says. “He’s only 22. The second youngest pack alpha in the whole of England, as far as I know.”

And yet, Louis hadn’t gotten the impression that Harry is anything but a full-grown pack leader, a man to respect, with the way he carried himself at the hospital.

“Impressive,” Louis mumbles as he finishes his last bite and gulps down some water to ban the mental images of Harry from his brain. He’s only met the man once and he can’t allow himself to develop a crush on the bloody pack leader out of everyone.

“My shift at the hospital is starting in 20 minutes so I should get going.” Niall waves the waitress over to pay.

“The hospital? What do you work as?” Louis tips the young girl a good twenty percent and she thanks both him and Niall extensively.

“I’m a nurse, newborn ward,” Niall replies as he gets up.

“Aww, that must be cute,” Louis coos. If he weren’t so bad with syringes and blood and the like, Louis would love working as a nurse as well, or anywhere in the medical sector really. Sadly, studying medicine is about the last thing Louis is made for, and he’s accepted that long ago.

“It is,” Niall smiles. “But very exhausting too, at times. They keep us on our toes, the little ones.”

Louis has another class starting soon as well, so he follows Niall outside. The air is fresh as it usually is in Northern England around this time of the year, the transition of winter to spring. Louis loves it though, especially because everything smells new here in Holchap. He can’t wait for it to fully feel like home.

The first week progresses like that. Louis gets up relatively early in the morning to be on time for all his classes and pays attention to absorb every useful information. It’s not a hardship, and he especially enjoys Nick’s a/b/o dynamics class, making him fantasise about being in a fulfilling relationship like the ones described as well, one day.

He isn’t exactly socially integrated yet, having met a few people but never gotten past small talk in the hallways between classes, but he doesn’t mind too much. Everything will develop with time, he’s sure.

With no obligations other than classes and no friends to meet up or play footie with, Louis decides to explore Holchap on Saturday. He’s heading in the same direction as he was when he was looking for the A&E, and the weather is chilly but without a cloud in the sky now that it’s noon, so that makes orientation way easier than in the dark of the night.

He passes the pharmacy he’s already seen on his tour with Niall, then the library and next to it a building that may be a small primary school. It amazes Louis how much charme Holchap has.

Approaching the marketplace Louis crossed with Niall on their way to café Malik, he slows down and lets his gaze wander and take in his surrounding. The square is wide and beautiful, with red-brownish tiles and well preserved historic building circling it. It might not be Doncaster or Manchester or London, but it’s enough for Louis.

A few pack members are out and about, crossing the square and skipping from one store to the other, but most of them seem too busy to sit down and just do nothing, so Louis is lucky in finding a free bench. He sits down to face the citizen office, where he knows most of the legal and political stuff happens that isn’t dealt with in the pack office right next to it. Realising he’s getting the hang of how things are working here makes Louis feel warm with pride.

Ten minutes later, Louis suddenly recognises a member that exits the citizen office. As soon as Liam spots him, he approaches him with a smile.

“Hello Louis!”

“Hi Liam,” he replies and returns the smile.

“How are you doing? Are you settling in well?” Louis greatly appreciates how genuinely caring Liam sounds. He doesn’t think the majority of new citizens in Doncaster or any non-pack city receive that much of support.

“Yeah, yeah. Thought I’d go out and explore the village a bit.”

Liam nods in understanding. “Good idea!” Pointing to the building behind him, he explains “my dad works in the citizen office. He had to come in for some urgent case, so I brought him some lunch.”

Of course Liam would be the son to bring his dad lunch to work. Louis focuses on the old building behind Liam and wonders what could be important enough to call someone in on a Saturday.

“How have your classes been so far? You started on Monday, right?” Liam keeps questioning while he pulls his jacket’s zipper up higher.

“They’re interesting, I like them,” Louis assures him. “It does get a bit lonely in the evening as I don’t really have any friends yet,” he admits as an afterthought.

Liam’s smile falters a bit at that, not happy hearing that the first week of inclusion hasn’t led to Louis connecting to others yet. He looks almost sympathetic and that’s definitely not the reaction Louis wanted to evoke.

“It’s okay though, I’m sure that’ll come with time,” Louis says. “It’d just be nice to talk to someone about being an omega. Hear some personal experience other than class material, you know?”

Usually he’d hate telling the pack beta this so openly, but maybe it’s a good decision to mention this exactly _because_ Liam is pack beta and might have some useful tipps. He’s also some sort of authority, so he should be professional enough not to judge Louis or any pack member really.

“There are psychological offers at the community centre,” Liam informs him, eager to help. “Sometimes they have posters or leaflets lying around, but you can just ask the secretary Mrs Perry and I’m sure she’ll help you.”

Louis knows Liam means it well and the people at the community centre probably do a great job, but it’s not the setting he’s looking for. He’d rather just sit at home and talk to friend in the familiarity of his own flat.

Liam seems to catch up on Louis’ thoughts as he sees his face. “Otherwise I’m sure Niall wouldn’t mind answering your questions either. You guys went for lunch a couple days back, he told me?” he proposes.

That’s definitely an idea Louis can work with. He just doesn’t know where to find Niall, other than the newborn ward at the hospital, but that’s probably not the best place to just show up at.

“That’d be amazing, I just have no way to reach Niall.”

Before Louis even finishes that sentence, Liam whips out his phone and dials Niall’s number, who picks up after just a few rings. To be honest, Louis is slightly surprised the pack members use technology just like the humans in Doncaster do and maybe Liam picks up on that as well because he looks at him with an amused glance while chatting to Niall. But it only makes sense, they live in the same country, with the same medical standards, so why shouldn’t they use mobile phones just like Louis?

It’s a quick call just to ask whether it’s okay to give Niall’s phone number to Louis, to which Niall agrees immediately. When Liam hangs up on Niall, he reads out the number for Louis to put into his phone and Louis thanks him. He’ll definitely contact Niall soon.

Louis doesn’t even last a day before he texts Niall if they can meet up sometime. Niall agrees easily when he replies later that night, suggesting to meet for late breakfast at café Malik the next day because he’s got an afternoon shift.

Only waiting a few short minutes before Niall turns up, they head inside after a hug. Louis expects Niall to simply greet the bartender again and then push them into an unoccupied booth, but he’s off to a man with a baby seat resting on the ground next to him.

“Hey man, how are you?” Niall approaches the black-haired man from behind, patting him on the neck.

“Hi,” the man turns around to give Niall a half-hug. “I’m good, visiting dad.”

“And how’s this cutie doing?” Niall crouches down to look at the baby that’s asleep in the seat.

“She’s asleep now because she kept us up half of the night, the little bugger.” The man, who Louis is relatively sure must be Zayn, turns to him.

“Hi, I’m Louis,” he springs into action and extends a hand for Zayn to shake.

“Zayn,” the man shakes the hand before pointing down to where Niall is still cooing at the baby. “And this is my daughter Mavis.”

“She’s a cutie,” Louis joins in on the cooing as he kneels down next to Niall. The focus on Mavis is a welcome distraction and Louis appreciates Zayn not asking who exactly he is and what he’s doing here, because Holchap isn’t exactly big and foreigners probably stick out.

Niall and Zayn chat some more, about Gigi and Zayn’s job as a teacher and Mavis, before Zayn excuses himself because Mavis needs to be fed as soon as she wakes up. He says goodbye to the two of them and the man behind the bar, who Louis guesses is his dad, and then he’s on his way.

They settle on a different table this time, further in the back of the café and Louis is glad because the questions he has for Niall aren’t exactly public friendly. Niall orders food for them again and when the waiter has delivered their drinks, Louis finally brings up the reason for his request to meet up.

“So, I don’t know if Liam told you, but I… have a few questions… about being an omega?”

Niall nods after he takes a sip of orange juice. “Liam told me. You can ask me about anything,” Niall offers, a grin spreading on his face especially when he sees how Louis is blushing in embarrassment.

“You’re going to regret that,” Louis jokes, mainly to convince himself to not feel as awkward.

“I won’t. I don’t mind talking about omega biology, and I refuse to feel embarrassed about that. It’s just nature, you know?” he shrugs casually.

Louis kind of wants to hug him just for that.

“So… is it hard to spend your heat alone?” Louis mumbles as quickly as possible, looking around in paranoia that someone’s overhearing their conversation.

Niall ponders for a second, eyes shifting to the top left, before replying. “I mean, it’s not the best feeling ever and it hurts sometimes, not going to lie, but it’s manageable. Just make sure you’re prepared for it, with snacks and water and stuff.”

Louis gulps. “Okay,” he quiets for a second. “I’m just kind of scared of my first one, you know? In the hospital they told me they can’t even calculate when it’s going to happen.”

“I understand,” Niall nods. “That sucks.”

“How will I notice I’m in heat?” Louis continues.

Niall chuckles before leaning back against the bench’s backrest. “Oh believe me, you’ll definitely notice. Usually you’re a bit moody beforehand, because hormones, you know? And then it’s just what you’re expecting I guess. Sweating buckets and feeling tingly and pain and need spreading in your body.”

“Fits the name,” Louis huffs, not so keen on experiencing all that any time soon when he’s not sure how to handle it. It’ll get better with routine though, Louis tries to convince himself. 

Their breakfast arrives before Louis has the chance to ask anymore questions, and he grants Niall the opportunity to wolf down his eggs without interruption. The food is delicious again, and Louis really understands why Niall proposed coming here for the second time in a row.

When the waiter comes to collect their used dishes, Louis picks up where they left off.

“Will I smell intensely to other people? Pack members I mean?”

Niall nods once again. “Most likely, yeah. I mean, you’re a turned human so I’m not a hundred percent sure how that works, but omegas usually smell strongly either way.”

“Can you smell me right now?” Louis can’t help but ask.

With the twitch of his nose, Niall checks the air around him. “Not really. Like, there’s something there, but not really. I’m guessing that’ll change after your first heat.”

That’s what Dr. Corden and the hospital staff said as well and Louis doesn’t know whether he wants that to happen as soon as possible or maybe another few days or weeks to mentally prepare.

“Do you have any other tipps?”

“About what? Anything?”

Shrugging, Louis nods and pulls a face. “I’ll take anything I can get.”

Niall takes a few seconds to think again. Louis plans on paying for his breakfast in exchange for helping him like this. He’d only rely on google otherwise.

“Just… embrace it. If that makes sense?” Niall rolls his head back before smiling at Louis. “I know a few friends who didn’t really like the idea of being an omega after presenting, but it’s not all that bad. If you embrace it. So yeah.”

It’s almost cute, how much Niall encourages him to try and feel good in his own skin. Louis smiles back thankfully.

“You quite like being an omega.” It’s more of a statement than a question, but Louis thinks he’s got the right impression of Niall so far.

“Of course,” Niall replies cheekily.

Louis pays for both of their meals before Niall can pull out his wallet and the other omega promises to buy them some beer sometime in the future in return. The prospect of being Niall’s friend makes Louis’ happy for the rest of the day.

A couple days later, Niall texts Louis to meet him for lunch break the following Wednesday. Louis almost expects Niall to suggest café Malik again, but Niall plans to visit Liam in the official pack office because apparently they have a good canteen.

They meet on the marketplace half an hour after noon and Niall leads them to the pack office’s front door, holding it open for Louis to enter as well. Conveniently, Liam has just ended his work for the morning and joins them for food, which makes eating in the office canteen a bit less awkward for Louis. Surely, having lunch with the pack beta is socially accepted.

The canteen food is indeed enjoyable, with many options to pick from so everyone can mix and match their preferred lunch. The vanilla pudding is so yummy it has Niall and Louis moaning. All three of them occasionally comment on something but mostly concentrate on eating, Niall at impressive speed again.

When they’re done, Niall brings up a pub quiz that’s supposed to take place sometime in the next month and asks Liam to check for the date, but Liam has left his phone upstairs in his office, so after turning in their dishes, Niall and Louis accompany the pack beta to the second floor.

“It’s on the sixteenth, I think,” Liam informs Niall as he checks his phone while Louis is busy looking around the office. It looks almost posh, with dark wooden furniture and walls like it holds a couple centuries of pack history - which it probably does. He’ll have to google when Holchap was founded.

Louis doesn’t really participate in Liam’s and Niall’s discussion and immeaditely notices when someone enters the room after a quiet knock. His eyes widen when he realises it’s Harry and he almost wants to hit himself in the head for his stupidity, because why wouldn’t Harry be here? He’s the pack alpha, after all.

“Hello,” Harry greets the three of them, in a friendly but serious manner and his eyes mainly remain fixed on his pack beta after swaying from Louis to Niall.

“Liam, we need to talk,” he demands and gestures to the hallway, indicating that Liam is to follow him. To Louis’ surprise, the beta instantly obeys, making Louis question how powerful the position of pack alpha really is.

It doesn’t make sense for Niall and Louis to stay in Liam’s room when he isn’t present anymore, especially because lunch break has ended by now, so the two omegas leave.

“That sounded serious,” Louis comments as soon as they exit the pack office.

Niall shrugs as they make their way across the marketplace, both needing to go in the same direction.

“There have been issues with communal human politicians and another pack in the area.”

Louis is clever enough not to ask follow-up questions, because even if Niall knows more about that, he’s probably not allowed to give out secret information like that. If it’s even secret. Louis doesn’t know exactly how politics are handled here in practice.

Niall mentioning human politicians also causes Louis to think about his family and friends. He texted Stan and his sister two days ago, to keep them updated that he’s alive and doing well and to check up on them, but neither of them have offered to come visit him. Louis hasn’t asked them to either, he knows that not everyone can comprehend his decision to basically give up his life in Doncaster in order to join a pack, out of all things. Louis doesn’t regret it anyway, so far.

The night from Thursday to Friday, Louis wakes up trembling with a fever. His temperature is so high he’s not sure it’s just a regular fever anymore, the skin of his face burning up that it’s almost painful to touch.

Is this a heat? Or does he have some sort of nasty disease? Are there special omega diseases, or maybe disesase for turned humans?

Louis tries to call Niall for help, but the other man doesn’t answer. No wonder, it’s way past midnight and either the nurse is asleep or working a night shift. Louis leans back against the wall his bed is pushed against and sighs. Running his hand through his hair, he notices that it’s almost wet with sweat, which would fit the symptoms Niall had described.

What is he supposed to do now? Even if he has the confirmation that this is heat, how the hell is he supposed to handle that?

It’s most likely a stupid decision, but Louis is hysterical and insecure and alone with out any help in reach, so he decides to get up and consultate the A&E, or whoever he can find at the hospital. They’ll know how to handle these kind of situations and his heat surely can’t be too far progressed if he doesn’t even feel any pain in his abdomen.

Trying to stay more calm than the last time he got up to look for the A&E, he gets dressed and slips outside. At least he knows where the hospital is, this time. With big steps he heads downtown, but bloody hell. Within five minutes he realises he should’ve just told his fucking brain to shut up and stay in bed, because there’s something wet in his boxers that he doesn’t think is normal and yup, this _definitely_ is a heat.

Internally Louis curses himself and speeds up because he’s already more than halfway. Maybe they have spare rooms to spend his heat in at the hospital, or maybe they know a possibility to drug him up and send him home without his knees buckling.

Louis reaches the street that leads towards the hospital and the marketplace when he suddenly feels like he can’t possibly take any step further, his whole body protesting and stinging. This was such a bloody stupid idea.

He almost has accepted that he just might pass out again in the middle of the freaking street when he sees two men appraoching him before he can collapse. Everything feels like a massive deja-vu and Louis can barely believe his eyes when he recognises one of the men as Harry. What a coincidence is that?

On the downside though, the amazing smell surrounding the pack alpha is even stronger to Louis in this state and his knees almost give out when Harry is a good five feet from him.

“Louis, hey, no,” Harry steps in and stabilises him without hesitation, keeping him from dropping straight onto the cobbles beneath them. By now, both Harry and the other man have realised that the omega in front of them is in heat and Louis hears them converse shortly on how to proceed but he can’t actually make out any words because _this smell._

Louis wiggles in Harry’s arms because staying still burns and he _needs_ something, needs more of this incredibly intoxicating smell, needs water, needs an _alpha._ Despite everything, he knows he’s not thinking clear and rational, but there’s nothing he can do to regain control over his body. The best thing he can do is push his face into Harry’s collarbone and take a deep breath in.

“Harry,” Louis whines under his breath and Harry jumps into action while also trying to calm the restless omega that’s still depending on his support.

“Shh, we’ll take you home, don’t worry,” he mumbles and softly pushes Louis to start walking. Louis’ heat fogged brain wouldn’t have minded if the alpha had carried him, but keeping his head pressed against Harry’s chest does it for now.

It takes them some time to reach the living residence Louis is currently calling his home because every few minutes, Louis stops and whines and stomps his foot without any reason, but Harry stays patient and insists on escorting him home. Louis only plays along because he gets to sniff Harry constantly for comfort.

When they reach the door, Harry asks for Louis’ keys and Louis reluctantly hands them to the second man so Harry won’t let go of him.

“Which one is your flat, Louis?” Harry asks as soon as they’re inside. Louis doesn’t answer, only hums into Harry’s chest.

“Which is your room number?” Harry repeats, a tad more determined this time.

“28,” Louis slurs, eyes still closed and not looking up. His abdomen is definitely starting to hurt now,and the wetness in his pants is increasing, so deep inside he’s actually glad Harry brought him home, to the safety of his flat.

Harry leads him up to the second floor, the stairs being a bit of an obstacle with Louis’ weight in his arms but manageable thanks to Harry’s muscles. The other man unlocks Louis’ door and he’s ushered inside. He doesn’t mind any of that until he realises Harry is about to step out and close the door between them.

“Noo, don’t leave,” Louis whimpers and springs up from the bed.

“Sit down, Louis,” Harry commands in a stern voice and Louis has no option than to follow his order. This must be the alpha voice Louis’ read about. He’d be lying if he says it doesn’t make him even more aroused.

“Stay in this flat unless it’s an absolute emergency. Understood?”

Whining again, Louis nods. “Yes,” he whispers and wriggles around because sitting is uncomfortable.

“Good. I’ll leave now,” Harry announces before backing off and closing the door behind him. In that moment, Louis hasn’t got the smallest hint of an idea how much effort it takes for Harry to not turn around, because Louis' whines can be heard from the hallway until the alpha has left the building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Thank you for your lovely feedback, I really appreciate it and I hope you'll like the new chapter! 
> 
> I've also been considering making a tumblr so maybe you'll find me there soon as well.  
> My insta is blugreenishy, feel free to DM me! :)
> 
> Have fun reading and stay healthy x

Louis spends his first heat alone. And it’s nothing anyone could’ve prepared him for, no anecdotes from Niall, no online blogs, no basic biology lesson at the community centre. No, this is way more intense than anything Louis has ever experienced.

The first ten minutes after Harry has fled his room, Louis actively mourns the loss of the amazing alpha pheromones. To be honest, it’s not like he stops after that. The olfactory imprint Harry has left in the air lessens out the more Louis’ heat progresses and _no, Louis wants to smell Harry, not himself._

When he finally accepts the reality that he won’t be leaving his flat anytime soon, Louis picks up the duvet that has fallen off the bed from all his fussing and heartlessly folds it, placing it on the desk chair. He won’t be needing a blanket any time soon because his body temperature is definitely high enough right now, in the human world it’d probably border on life threatening, but not in the world of packs. His pillow is allowed to stay on the bed though, for comfort and probably to bury his head when he’s coming.

Remembering Niall’s advice, Louis makes his way over to the small but well equipped kitchenette and tears open the cupboard doors to look for anything edible. Biscuits and apples are the best he can find and he carries those, along with a freshly filled water carafe, to his night stand.

At this point, Louis’ body is positively aching, the pain in his abdomen spreading up his back and chest and thighs and his private parts. Louis knows the wetness he has been feeling at the back of his pants is slick and while he usually would cringe about anything related to those kind of intimacies, he tries his best to follow Niall suit and leave the feeling of embarrassment behind. This is his body and it’s natural now that he officially has presented as an omega. Fuck his crude and self-conscious socialisation.

Before giving in and plopping down onto his bed, Louis undresses himself, first jumper and shirt, than trousers, pants and socks. All of his clothes will need a thorough washing, maybe even two rounds in the washing machine.

Laying down on his bed and exploring his body sort of feels like the first time consciously jerking off - exciting and pleasurable and a tiny bit like a sin. This is not the time to be shy and innocent though, because bloody hell, this is a whole different level of arousal. Louis has no idea when his heat’s peak is supposed to be, but if it’s going to be much more intense than this, he doesn’t know how to physically handle it.

It doesn’t take long before Louis indulges himself and finally gives his body what it’s been yearning for - stimulation, friction. He lays on his stomach and rubs against the mattress shamelessly. The last time he did this must’ve been at least five years ago, but the circumstances call for it. His cock is so hard it hurts and he keeps leaking slick and ugh, is every heat going to be like this?

With his arse up, Louis finally dares to sneak his right hand back and circles his rim teasingly, glide easy thanks to the slick. This is all so obscure. The pressure in his tummy becomes too much when he finally pushes his index finger past the rim. Grabbing his pillow with his left hand tensly, he closes his eyes and lets little breathless moans escape his mouth for the first time.

The first orgasm of Louis’ first heat hits intensly and he muffles down the drawn-out _ahh_ by burying his face in the bed sheets. Hopefully the neighbours won’t hear anything. Or maybe they’re omegas too and know his struggles.

Louis is able to properly breathe once the last pleasurable waves of his orgasm die down. He’s aware it won’t last long from what he’s heard, but it’s a welcome break right now. In the end, Louis gets exactly sixteen and a half minutes before he feels a familiar tug in his lower abdomen and his cock starts to peak up in interest again.

It’s a long two and a half days. Getting off is nice, of course, but if it’s with such need and desperation it’s almost exhausting. Every few hours Louis is lucky enough to get a bit of sleep and rebuild some energy, and he enjoys every bite and every sip he is able to make time for. What’s most prominent to remember about his suffering is Harry, though. He doesn’t necessarily picture the alpha, but the memory of his pheromones never quite leave Louis’ nose.

When he wakes up on Sunday around 10 am, he’s mostly lucid. It’s the first time he’s woken up without a hard dick and the slick on his thighs, backside and sheets is mostly dried and that’s a relief. Two days are more than enough for his debut in a sexually mature omega life.

Louis heaves himself out of bed slowly and groans when he feels how stiff and powerless his body feels, and he’s usually not the type for a cold shower but after how hot he’s felt the past days it feels indescribable. He takes his time and only gets out when his stomach growls and reminds him to finally get some proper nutricious intake.

After heating up some spicy ramen noodles and shoveling them into his mouth with record speed that even Niall would struggle to keep up with, he looks around for his phone. Unsurprisingly, his battery is empty and when he’s finally charged it long enough to turn it on, a text from Niall pops up.

_Hope your heat’s durable. Call me when its done !_

So that’s what Louis does. Niall picks up after the second ring and agrees to come over when Louis assures him that it feels like he’s done with his heat.

“Hey! How are ya feeling?” Niall skips towards him as soon as he’s on the second floor and sees Louis standing in the door.

“Better now,” Louis replies and invites Niall in. They hug shortly and _huh_. For a second Louis thinks he’s imagining it, but no, he’s definitely smelling something. It’s not potent, but it’s there.

Niall coughs a little when he enters the room and walks over to the window. Before he opens it, he searches for Louis’ eyes. “Do you mind if I..?” he says and gestures to the handle. “The air’s a bit… sticky in here.”

“By all means.”

The air streaming inside is chilly but not too cold and it fills Louis’ lungs in a satisfying way. He takes a deep breath in and sits down on his freshly made bed. He’s glad he tidied up before Niall popped over.

Niall settles on his desk chair, legs spread wide and arms wrapped around the backrest. He looks at the other omega with an expectant look and a smirk around his lips.

“What?” Louis can’t help but smile.

“How was it? C’mon, spill some tea!”

Louis moves so he sits with his legs crossed, not knowing what to tell his new found friend. He knows Niall is anything but shy, but Louis doesn’t usually brag about what goes on behind closed doors.

“It was okay, I guess? Pretty exhausting. And I’m glad it’s over now, to be honest.”

Niall nods along. “I get that, I felt like that too after my first heat. But let me tell you, I am a hundred percent sure you’ll feel differently after you’ve spend your first heat with an alpha.”

Louis blushes and Niall cackles when he sees how Louis avoids his eyes.

“We’ll see about that,” Louis says and tries to change the topic as there are a few things on his mind that still need clarification. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about apologising to Harry. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but he was the one to find me. Again. Ugh.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Niall admits. “My dad was the protector with him.”

“Protector?” Louis asks confused.

“Yeah, it’s a profession that doesn’t exist in human territory. Not like that, at least,” Niall explains, trying to make it understandable. “It’s a mix of multiple human jobs, I guess? Like police officer, firefighter and security all in one.”

“And he protects the pack alpha, or what?”

Niall pulls a thoughtful face. “Sometimes. They do protect the pack alpha, but also the pack and everyone belonging to it, and the system that keeps the pack life running.”

Louis nods. He didn’t know these kind of differences existed and he’s curious to find out more.

“And your dad’s a protector? Sounds important.”

Pride flashes across Niall’s face and he smiles at the mention of his dad. “Yup, it’s pretty cool. Liam’s a protector, too, actually.”

Louis’ eyes widen. “Oh really? I didn’t know that.”

“He’s still in training though. Takes a while `til you’re a full protector.”

It certainly makes sense to elect a protector as the pack beta. Louis knows that Zayn is an English and Art teacher because Niall asked him about work when they met at café Malik, which means he must be clever too, but protector just fits better. Maybe Louis will get the opportunity to ask Liam about his job. If that’s allowed.

“But concerning your idea to apologise to Harry - don’t.”

Having been lost in his thoughts, Louis looks up to Niall and what? Why shouldn’t he apologise to Harry? Has he fucked up so bad that it won’t be appreciated? Will Harry not want to talk to him? He didn’t _mean_ to turn into a needy, whiny mess in the middle of the streets, it was an accident!

“Don’t take it personal, it’s just - you stink.”

“I stink?” Louis repeats and tries to keep the hurt out of his voice. It’s an aspect he’s never even considered before - once he’ll develop his sense of smell, he’ll also be able to smell himself, just like anyone else. And what if his smell is nasty? Will he have to smell his disgusting smell for the rest of his life?

“Not in a bad way,” Niall tries to comfort him when he picks up on Louis’ inner turmoil. “It’s just really, really potent right now. And Harry has self-discipline like no other, but it’s probably still not a good idea to approach him when you still smell so strongly.”

“Okay,” Louis says quietly. He almost doesn’t dare to ask, but Niall is his best call right now and he can be sure to get an honest opinion. “Do I… what do I smell like?”

Pulling a face of consideration, his eyes wandering up to the ceiling as he takes a couple sniffs of the almost aired-out room. “I can’t really tell, I don’t think it’s fully developed yet. It’s sweet but not sickingly. Ask me again in a couple days.”

Sweet. Louis smells sweet but not sickingly, according to Niall. Sweet is good, isn’t it? Everyone likes a bit of sweetness. Most people enjoy some candy once in a while too. That sounds bearable.

“I think I can smell you a bit, too. Or I’m starting to.”

A genuine, wide grin starts to spread across Niall’s face and he looks even more excited than Louis himself.

“Yeah? What do I smell like?“

Louis breathes in once more just to be sure. He doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his only friend in Holchap so far.

“It’s hard to describe, but coconut… maybe?”

Niall nods while fumbling with the informational folder that’s lying on the desk. “I’ve heard coconut before,” he smiles. “But don’t worry, it’s common to not be able to put them into categories. Smells in packs are much older than human concepts or words for food or the like.”

How old is the pack history? In Louis’ a/b/o history class they’ve been talking about packs in the 20th century, but Louis has not even a rough idea how ancient packs really are. Is it the same time line as human history? Or is it older?

“This is all so crazy,” Louis comments, staring out the window. He’ll rest some more for now but the weather seems nice outside so maybe he’ll dare to go for a walk later tonight. And he’ll definitely need some groceries tomorrow.

“Do you regret it?” Niall wonders and his face doesn’t show any judgement, just sincere interest.

Louis doesn’t need to think for second before shaking his head no. It’s been a tricky few days, eventful, but not bad. Nothing that makes him say _I wish I hadn’t made this decision._

“No,” he says convinced. “No, I don’t. I’m a bit scared about a few things, but that’s just because they’re new to me and I don’t know what to expect.”

“New is always scary,” Niall agrees. He looks happy about Louis liking his life in Holchap so far. Which makes sense because he’s been quite involved in trying to make his start as comfortable as possible. “But you can always talk to me if you have more questions,” Niall adds.

“Thanks,” Louis smiles. “I appreciate that.” He’s lucky he chose Holchap. Other packs may have been a great choice too, but they wouldn’t have had a Niall.

The other omega stays for a while longer and advises Louis to go to an omega doctor now that he’s officially been through a heat and his body transformation has reached a new level. Louis swallows nervously at that, but if that’s what Niall thinks is best, he’ll look into it later.

Even before Louis heads to the community centre the next morning he phones the first Omega specialist listed in his informational folder that holds any kind of medical contacts as well. The young man that answers on the other side of the line offers him an appointment for the next afternoon, which is much quicker than Louis has expected but he books it anyway.

Louis feels multiple eyes on him throughout the classes now that he smells more. No one approaches him directly but the two teenage girls in the seats behind him definitely whisper about it. He doesn’t hear anyone gossiping in a bad way, no slurs, because there are other omegas walking through the community centre and it’s not seen as a bad thing to present. It’s just that everyone notices more than usual because Louis carried his human smell before.

He tries not to think about his class mates’ attention on him but rather focuses on the changes he can register. In return for developing a more noticeable smell, he is starting to pick up on strong smells as well. The older man to his left is an alpha, the girl around Louis’ age who's sitting near the door is another omega, he guesses. With most people he still can’t tell though, either because they’re betas, haven’t presented yet or simply don’t carry a strong enough smell for Louis to identify.

The omega specialist’s office is in a different area of Holchap, one that Louis’ never been in before, most southern. It doesn’t take more than a couple minutes to get there because Holchap isn’t that big, but Louis already decides that he prefers the areas he usually frequents.

After waiting a couple minutes in the waiting room, Louis is led in to meet Mr Miller, who’s at least sixty, barely has any of his grey hair left and strikes Louis as unfriendly the second he enters the room and isn’t even greeted. Trying to keep an open mind, Louis reminds himself to give the doctor a chance.

Louis wonders whether medical staff cover their smell and whether that’s even a thing or just a theory he’s read on the internet. Maybe Mr Miller is a beta though and that’s why Louis can’t smell him.

The doctor rattles through some mandatory introduction stuff about omega biology that Louis knew anyway before proceeding with the examination that comes with presenting.

Long story short, Louis despises it. Mr Miller doesn’t keep him in the loop what’s going on, why he’s pressing down on sensitive parts of Louis’ abdomen, chest and neck and Louis almost considers backing out when he’s asked to undress his lower body.

“Uh, why is this necessary?” he asks before unbuckling his belt. Normally, in human cities, patients are granted the privacy to undress behind a curtain or in another room, aren’t they?

“Because it’s on my checklist,” the older man grumbles, still waiting for Louis to pull down his trousers and pants.

The further examination isn’t comfortable and pretty much what Louis has expected but his flight reflexes still tell him to get the fuck out of here. It’s not exactly nice to have your private parts touched by anyone that isn’t a consensual partner, a toy or your own hand. No thanks. If this is what omega specialists are like, Louis will avoid the hell out of them for the rest of his life.

Apparently everything is okay with Louis, thank god. The doctor scribbles some notes down that even the best trained chemist couldn’t decipher, seemingly done on his part.

“Is there anything else?” he asks when he looks up and sees Louis still in his seat.

“Yes, I…,” Louis starts but interrupts himself, not knowing if he wants to go through with his question. Mr Miller is already unfriendly and judge-y as it is, no need to make it worse, right?

But also, this man is a medical professional and he’s not meant to judge nor is he to make his patients uncomfortable. He’s here to help and so far he’s only done the bare minimum. For which Louis still feels the need to be thankful for.

“Yes?” Mr Miller shoots him a bored look.

“I’ve been considering taking… taking suppressants and… birth control,” Louis finishes and doesn’t dare to look the doctor in the eye, blushing.

Mr Miller huffs and while he doesn’t verbally comment on it, his reaction screams _eager much?_ in a very unkind way. Louis wishes he hadn’t asked.

“I will not prescribe a newly presented, unmated omega like you birth control if it’s not necessary,” he says. What a conservative prick!

“I will also not prescribe you regular suppressants after just one heat,” he continues but types something into the PC to his right. “But I think you wouldn’t go wrong with some regulation suppressants that will make sure your cycle develops properly. You can pick those up at the reception.”

Needless to say, Louis mutters out a forced thank you, gathers his things and makes a beeline for the reception. The omega behind it seems fairly nice and it’s not his fault Louis doesn’t like the doctor, but he leaves the office as soon as he’s got the prescription in his hands.

Thinking about the past hour on his way home, Louis can’t believe he’s just encountered the most unfriendly pack member so far. Perhaps not everything here in Holchap is as golden as it looks. And he’ll definitely have to ask Niall about recommanding a new omega doctor.

Louis actually decides to take a detour and get the suppressants he’s been prescribed so he won’t forget. It’s probably best to start with them as soon as possible.

The chemist is more central again and Louis finds it without problems as Niall had make sure to include it in his tour. He enters the otherwise empty shop and is met with a smiling girl behind the counter. Chemists are definitely less threatening than doctors.

“Hi, how can I help you?” the blonde woman welcomes him and Louis tries to sniff her secondary gender and guesses beta, but he can’t be sure.

“Hi, uh, I’ve got a prescription?” he says and hands over the little paper.

“Let’s see,” she says and takes a look before taking off and opening a long drawer further in the back. “I haven’t seen you around here before, have I?”

Not prepared for small-talk, Louis stays silent for a second before shaking his head. “No, I just moved here recently.”

When she returns with a sizable tablet pack, she musters him with an interested glint in her eyes. “Do you happen to be Louis?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Clapping her hands she grins at him even wider. She’s undeniably pretty with her pony-tail up high and the white coat covering most of her body. “Oh I’ve heard about you! I’m Gigi,” she introduces herself.

Gigi. Gigi. That rings a bell, but Louis can’t place where he’s heard her name before. It’s been a stressful day.

“You’ve met my boyfriend, Zayn, before,” Gigi helps him when she realises how lost Louis looks.

“Ah yes. Your daugher’s a cutie,” Louis says because he doesn’t know what else to say. It’s not like he had a real conversation with Zayn, he mostly just listened to him and Niall catching up. But bringing up someone’s baby is always safe territory, people love to brag about their children.

“She is, isn’t she?” Gigi beams. “Mave is home with Zayn right now, some bonding time when he’s home from school - he’s a teacher,” she adds as an explanation.

Louis nods. “Yeah, Niall said so.”

“I miss her terribly but I do the afternoon twice a week here,” Gigi shrugs. “It’s healthy though, not being the only one to stay home all the time.”

Barely realising how they’ve fallen into an easy conversation, Louis quickly decides that he likes Gigi. She’s way more talkative than her boyfriend. Or maybe that was just because Zayn is wary of him for being a foreigner.

“Yeah, it’s probably good to see something else every once in a while,” he agrees easily as she registers the medication. Before entering the chemist Louis thought it was embarrassing to buy omega medication like this even though he logically knew that most omegas in Holchap probably have at some point. Still, it’s new for him. Gigi on the other hand doesn’t comment on it and doesn’t show any negative reaction either. Instead she remains completely neutral and professional while explaining Louis when to take the pills and what to consider, and he’s immensly grateful for it.

On Thursday, Louis has his a/b/o dynamics class with Nick and it’s always a highlight. It might be his favourite. Just like all classes, it lasts a good two hours with a little break and it’s exhausting to stay focused for so long but Louis doesn’t mind too much. Unlike the girls behind him who have become surprisingly quiet about halfway through the lesson and when Louis dared to turn around, he noticed both of them have fallen asleep with their head resting in their hands. Louis can’t suppress the chuckle as he tends to his worksheet again. Good old late teenage years, when staying up late was more important than everything else.

They learn about a temporary bond that can occur after an omega and an alpha spend a very intense heat together, and Louis tries to take notes because, who knows, maybe this will actually concern him one day. He knows having an alpha is in a distant future right now, but a lad can dream.

The second Nick ends the lesson, most people storm out of the room like they’ve been desperately waiting for it, but Louis stays behind to organise his notes and make sure nothing is in the wrong folder. He’s produced an apple from his ruckbag and placed it on his table when he looks up to see someone entering instead of exiting the room and - oh, it’s Harry.

The pack alpha walks towards Nick and greets the teacher like they’re good friends. As he takes in his environment, Harry seems to recognise Louis and approaches him.

“Hello Louis.”

Louis coughs in surprise and zips up his backpack before sitting up straight in his chair and facing Harry.

“Hello.” He still doesn’t know how to address the pack leader.

“Are you okay?”

Flashbacks from last Thursday night come to Louis’ mind involuntarily. Pictures of Harry supporting his entire body weight, of him breathing in Harry’s scent on the way home. The memory of Harry using his alpha voice on Louis makes him shudder.

“Uh, yeah,” he utters awkwardly and he can already feel that stupid blush creeping up his neck. Has he been blushing more since joining the pack or has he just gotten himself into more situations that make him blush? Louis doesn’t know.

“I’m so sorry about last week,” Louis continues before Harry can say anything else. “I wanted to come apologise earlier but Niall… well.”

He never finishes that sentence because he surely isn’t supposed to babble about his heat smell to his freaking pack alpha. Harry seems to get the gist though and nods, neutral face never revealing his thoughts on the incident.

“I accept your apology, don’t worry,” he replies when he’s let some seconds pass to make sure Louis has said everything he had intended to. “There’s no need to feel guilty or ashamed about this. I’m glad I happened to be near to help.”

Louis gulps and nods. Maybe he’ll fall alseep easier tonight knowing that the pack alpha isn’t outwardly judging him for his stupid decision to leave his flat in the beginning state of heat. Maybe it’ll make him remember that night even more vividly, he’ll see.

Before Louis can get lost in his thoughts though, Harry speaks up again. “How do you feel about joining me for lunch in the pack canteen?” he offers as he glances at Louis’ apple.

“Uh. Okay?” Louis stutters out, frowning in confusion. He checks Harry’s face to make sure he’s talking to him and not kidding, which would be cruel for a pack leader.

“Yes? Great, I just need to have a quick chat with Nick, then we can leave,” he shoots Louis a small smile before turning around to talk to Nick. A bit dazzled, Louis reopens his backpack to put his apple back inside. This definitely isn’t how he thought his lunch break would be going. Nick smiles at Louis and wishes him a good rest of the week when Harry voices that he’s ready. He wonders what Nick thinks about Harry and him leaving for lunch together.

The way to the canteen isn’t very interesting as Harry gets a call the second they step out the community centre and the conversation carries on until they’re at the pack office. Harry holds the door open for Louis, effectively making him blush, which is so so stupid because this is not Harry flirting with him, it’s him being a mannered alpha and pack leader.

Louis’ glad he already knows his way around the cantine because he sure as hell doesn’t want to make a fool out of himself in front of Harry’s eyes. He even chooses a salad and some fruits as dessert, way healthier options than he’d usually go for, just to make Harry think he’s got a grip on life.

The staring that had finally started to ebb away as his class mates got used to Louis’ new omega smell over the past couple days is now returning with vigour as they sit down across from each other. Harry doesn’t seem to mind, he just greets everyone who approaches him and smiles through it. Louis on the other side can’t help but feel the tiniest bit intimidated. If Nick thought the two of them getting lunch together was peculiar, what will Harry’s colleagues and other strange pack members think? They’re the bloody pack alpha and an unbonded omega after all.

“So, how have your first weeks here treated you?” Harry starts as he cuts his food.

“Good, good. I think I’m getting the hang of things, yeah,” Louis says. “I like my classes, too,” he adds as an afterthought with more content.

Harry smiles and nods, focusing on Louis’ face. He’s incredibly attentive towards his counterpart, Louis has noticed before. It makes him feel all warm inside to know he’s got Harry’s full attention on him and it’s not forced in anyway because Harry initiated this.

And Harry smells incredible. With so many people around, it’s a bit overwhelming for Louis’ nose, but Harry is sitting closest so his pheromones are most dominant. It’s way harder to place than Niall’s smell, but it’s … intoxciating, strong. Louis needs to focus!

“That’s good to hear. Are you missing your family at home?”

Louis chews his tomatoes quickly to answer Harry with an empty mouth. How embarrassing would it be to accidentally spit on him? He’d have to change his name and move to Australia.

“A bit. I don’t think I necessarily miss Doncaster - I’m from Doncaster - but I miss my two best friends. And my siblings, yeah.”

Luckily, Harry just builds the further conversation on the aspects Louis has mentioned, because he isn’t really in the mood to go into explaining his family constellation. But he doesn’t need to, because Harry keeps asking about Doncaster as his home, what his favourite places are and why he prefers the village of Holchap over a proper city. He asks about his friends and the names of his siblings and Louis replies because he wants to, not because he feels like he has to.

It’s nice of Harry to show interest in his former human life, to make sure turning into a pack member is a pleasant experience for affected people. Over and over he appreciates that wholeheartedly.

Unfortunately, Louis’ lunch break doesn’t last forever and he has to get back to the community centre in order to not be late to his afternoon class. He wishes there would’ve been more time for him to ask Harry some more personal questions as well, because so far the focus had been pretty much on Louis.

“I need to get back to the community centre soon,” Louis remarks and stacks the dishes on the tablet.

“Me too,” Harry says with a glance to his wrist watch. They make sure to leave their seats neat and return the tablets. Before Louis can say goodbye and leave, Harry stops him.

“I hope you enjoyed lunch.”

“I did,” Louis replies and means it, eliciting another smile from the pack leader.

“I know there might be an … inhibition but I want you to know you can always come to me if there’s a problem, or if you need to talk.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Louis can't help but grin. Niall had offered similar support, but it feels different with Harry somehow.

The weekend and the following week pass easily. Louis’ been talking to and spending his lunch break with a beta girl who’s a couple years younger and in his social sciene and law class. The third time they sat together to eat Louis had dared to ask her about her secondary gender because she knew about his human past and didn’t seem to judge him, and he was quite proud to have guessed her beta status correctly. He’s getting better at this, but alphas are still the easiest to identify, probably because they’re complementary to his own gender.

Another new thing is that Louis’ been texting Niall more frequently. The other omega checks up on him regularly and Louis asks about his work in return - which Niall loves because he never stops talking about the adorable newborn babies in his ward.

Niall also mentions a group of friends he plays footie with whenever they can make it work, and invites Louis to join them in the same sentence. This may be one of the best things to have happened to Louis in Holchap because all the boys they meet up with are nice and embracing and only care about footie skills instead of origin.

The only not so pleasant thing is that Louis feels sick and a tad dizzy occasionally. He pushes it aside as consequences of less sports and healthy cooking because entertaining the thought that it might be the suppressant pills makes him even more sick. Paying Mr Miller a visit isn’t something he wants to repeat any time soon.

Whenever he feels unwell outside of classes, Louis has taken up the habit of going for a walk, which helps for a short period of time.

The third week of inclusion is quickly passing by, this Thursday is already marking Louis’ fourth in Holchap. It’s crazy how normal it feels to live here now after having lived in his home town all his life.

Thinking about his stay so far, Louis can’t help but ponder what his future in the pack will look like. Will he have his own flat? Will he work in a job he loves? What about a mate?

Seeing as he’s allowed to live in the residence for a couple more weeks, maybe even months, and he probably shouldn’t get lost in the thoughts about finding a boyfriend right now, so it’s a good idea to figure out what to do with his time after inclusion period.

So after his a/b/o dynamics class, Louis carefully approaches Nick as the other students gradually clear the class room. When the beta teacher senses Louis coming closer, he looks up from the books he’s organising on his desk. He leaves the start of the conversation to Louis but smiles encouragingly.

“Uh,” Louis makes, needing to clear his throat. “Sorry, but I have a question… in case you’ve got the time, of course.”

“Yes, go ahead,” Nick nods and Louis wonders how Nick is outside of school. He can definitely imagine him chilling with the lads with a beer in one and a burger in the other hand. Respecting young teachers had always been difficult for Louis in school, but with Nick, it’s strangely not that hard. Maybe because he’s authentic and doesn’t pretend to be flawless.

Stepping closer to the desk, Louis fumbles with his hands, arms pressed closed to his body.

“I wanted to talk to you about what happens after next week. I’m done with inclusion then,” Louis adds, in case the other man doesn’t know.

Nick looks understanding, his head slightly tilted to the side. “What are you imagining?”

Shrugging, Louis focuses on the thick dynamics reference book lying between them.

“I… I don’t know? I mean, I want to be a productive member of the pack. But I don’t really know what’s possible in my position?”

The beta takes a few minutes before responding, seemingly thinking about options for Louis.

“I have something in mind, but I think I’d rather pass it to Harry before suggesting something that might not be what he’s got in mind for you. I think he’s got a better overview when it comes to that.”

It takes a lot in Louis to get himself together and not blush. Harry is the pack leader, of course Nick would want to check in with him before promising Louis a career that doesn’t work out. No need to interpret it as a personal matter.

“How do you think I should do that?” he asks, because it’s not like he has Harry’s phone number on speed dial. And yes, Harry said he could come talk to him whenever he needed to, but that offer was only made a couple days ago and he doesn’t want to be needy. Harry surely is busy, leading a pack and all that.

“Mh, Harry is pretty preoccupied currently, so it’s probably better if you contact him yourself.”

Which, thank you very much Nick. Louis isn’t even sure if he thinks that ironically or not, because to a certain extent he can understand that it’s logical to not take the detour and communicate through Nick when Louis can very well talk to Harry himself.

“…okay,” Louis finally says, visibly torn about Nick’s advice.

“I’m sure he’ll be able to help you,” Nick smiles and continues stacking his teaching materials.

Lingering around, Louis fights with himself until his anxiety of doing something wrong wins. “Do I just walk into the pack office or how… do I get in contact with Harry?”

Nick nods, his hands resting on the desk. “There’s a reception to the right, can’t miss it when you enter. They’ll tell you what do to and where to go.”

“Alright, thank you,” Louis gulps.

Nick’s warm smile intensifies as if he can sense his nerves. “Don’t worry, Louis.”

That’s how Louis finds himself on the way to the pack office mere hours later, directly after his afternoon class. The walk there is nasty because it’s pouring and Louis is wet to the bone when he finally arrives at the official building.

The reception Nick mentioned is abandoned, no one occuyping one of the two chairs behind the counter. Great. What’s Louis supposed to do now?

Louis waits for someone to return to their work space while water is dripping down his face, hair and clothes. He’s never been a patient character, especially not when he’s wet and cold and without any information on how to proceed, so he decides to take matters into his own hands and heads up the stairs. Roughly remembering what way he’d taken with Niall when they visited Liam in his office, Louis walks down the hallway until one of the signs next to a massive wooden door says **“Harry Styles, Pack leader.”**

He takes a deep breath in and out before raising his hand to knock on the door twice, deeply hoping that there’s no important meeting going on inside that he’s potentially about to interrupt. But nothing happens. No one calls “come in” and no one opens the door from the inside. After another thirty seconds of impatience, Louis grabs the handle and pushes it down - it doesn’t budge. Is no one in this bloody pack office working until 3.30pm on a Thursday?

Louis should’ve just gone home and thought about a way to approach Harry in the next couple days. Or maybe ask Niall for help, like he always does when he doesn’t know what to do. Niall is basically his saviour at this point.

Feeling dumb and a bit angry that he’s not already at home, cuddled up in his blanket in warm, comfy and dry pyjamas, Louis turns around to head home when he suddenly spots Liam on the way to his office. It’s only a matter of seconds until Liam’s noticed him too.

“Hello!” he beams, the ever reoccuring smile spreading on his face.

“Hi,” Louis replies, trying hard not to sound impolite despite his disappointing afternoon.

Mustering his wet clothes, Liam frowns. “What are you doing here all wet? You’re going to catch a cold!”

“I was looking for Harry, but he’s not in his office,” Louis explains and yup, there’s the traitorous blush again. Liam knows Harry better than Louis does, but he’s not immune against speculations.

“He’s with his mum right now. I don’t think he’ll come to the office again before tomorrow morning. Sorry.” Liam’s kind smile turns sympathetic, eyes following as Louis brushes sticking strands of hair out of his face.

“Oh, alright.”

“If you feel comfortable telling me what your visit is about, I’ll forward the matter to him though,” Liam offers. “But you don’t have to, I respect your privacy in case it’s something personal.”

“It, uh,” Louis coughs. “It is personal, in a way. I just wanted to talk to Harry about future job perspectives, seeing as I’ll be done with inclusion soon. My teacher, Nick, suggested that.”

Understanding takes over Liam’s facial features and he beams widely. “Yes of course! I’ll tell him when I see him, I’m sure the two of you will be able to figure something out.”

Once again, Louis is incredibly thankful for Liam and his caring nature. He’s really making the whole settling in process easier for him. And while Louis has to admit that it is sort of disappointing to not talk to Harry today, at least he can head home and change into some other clothes. There’ll be other opportunities to have a conversation with Harry. And Louis probably shouldn’t feel that keen on talking to Harry alone anyway. His pheromones must be irresisteble in a confined room like Harry’s pack office.

“Thank you.”

“Nothing to thank me for. And now get home before you get sick!” Liam orders in a friendly but determined tone. It’s not his alpha voice, but Louis doesn’t need biological forces to make him follow that instruction. He gladly makes his way downstairs and eyes the secretary at the reception who miraculously appeared. Apparently it was just bad timing on Louis’ side again, nice.

Although Louis is almost running home, he feels sickish when he unlocks the door to his flat. He’s dizzy but manages to strip off his clothes before slumping down onto his very welcome bed. Usually he doesn’t complain about the weather too much -it’d take up too much of his precious time- but this nasty rain and wind is going to have him shivering and with a running nose if he’s not careful the next couple days. He should definitely dress up more appropriately tomorrow.

Classes pass as always the next day. His omega class is interesting but feels like it takes forever and they talk about presenting in teenage years which, for obvious reasons, doesn’t apply to Louis, so he doesn’t bother to be as attentive as he normaly would. On Fridays he doesn’t have afternoon classes, thank god, but that only means he has nothing planned for the rest of the day because when they texted the night before, Niall said he’s working all the way to the late evening.

With nothing else to do, Louis picks up some groceries and other necessities from the shop and makes his way home, determined to cook something remotely healthy for himself. Maybe that’ll help with the overall queasiness he’s been feeling. Under the weather, his dad would say.

Just when Louis’ about to pour some noodles into the pot - because noodles are _so_ healthy -, someone knocks on his door. Is that a neighbour of his introducing them? Or maybe they’re complaining because Louis sings under the shower?

Without further thinking Louis abandons his late lunch and goes to open the door - to find Harry standing in front of him. Black jeans tight, a dark olive jacket hugging his broad shoulders and making his eyes pop. Louis has to be careful to not stare at him with his mouth agape. 

“Hello Louis,” the pack leader smiles.

“Uh. Hi?” Oh yes, Louis is _very_ good at coming across self-confident.

“May I come in?” 

Has the correct use of grammar ever been this sexy? Louis doesn’t know. He nods though and opens the door wider to let the other man in. He’s not taking off his shoes and stays close to the entrance, so it doesn’t look like he’ll be here for long. Unfortunately.

“How, uh, how can I help you?” Louis hurries to add “Do you want something to drink? Water, tea, coffee?”

“No that’s fine, thanks,” Harry smiles. Thank god, because Louis has neither coffee nor a coffee machine.

“I came here because Liam told me he met you at the pack office yesterday?” he continues.

“Yeah,” Louis says and sits down on his bed, which slightly causes the dynamic of the conversation to shift with Harry standing and Louis sitting, but otherwise it’d be awkward to just stand across from each other. “Nick told me I should talk to you about a job after my inclusion.”

Saying it like that sounds like Louis feels forced to do so, like he’s not interested in actually doing something useful. Harry doesn’t react to or comment on it though, he only puts both his hands in his jean’s back pockets.

“I have two ideas for now,” the pack leader says carefully. He continues when Louis looks at him curiously. “The first one is working as a postal worker. Which might not sound as appealing at first, but it’s a highly appreciated job here in Holchap. I know a girl, Perrie, who could show you around.”

Louis as a postman? He doesn’t know if he can see that. It’s probably not a bad job, you meet a lot of (nice?) people and you get a lot of fresh air, but Louis’ not one to walk or cycle around all day. Harry seems to notice his hesitation.

“The other option is working in my friend Ed’s bookstore. He’s a nice lad. You alreay get along well with Niall so I think you’d like him.”

With a degree in psychology in the community, neither of these options really make sense, but the idea of working in a bookstore kind of catches Louis’ attention more. Maybe he’ll find some interesting literature on pack life or mating bonds to extend his knowledge. And if Ed really is a nice lad, maybe he’ll make a new friend.

“I… I think I’d prefer the bookstore, to be honest. If that’s okay.” Louis halts for a second. He’s not going to voice his concern to Harry out of everyone, but he’s also worried that people might not be as accepting about his origin when they see him wandering around, distributing letters. It may be a good idea to adjust some more before meeting more people in public.

Harry smiles and nods when Louis doesn’t say anything else. “Of course it is. I’ll tell Ed to email you.”

“Thank you,” Louis returns the smile. The conversation is done with that and Harry probably has no reason to stay.

“I was just starting to cook, if you’d like some lunch?” Louis tries to be a good host but almost cringes at how this sounds. Like a poorly attempted try to get him to stay. Which it sort of is, but it’s also him trying to be polite and show some gratitude towards everyone’s support.

“No thank you, I need to get going again,” Harry rejects and pulls a hand out of his pocket to gesture to the door behind him.

“Sure.”

Harry says goodbye and is on his way a minute later, and for some odd reason, Louis’ omega feels horrible about it. He doesn’t have a claim on Harry and Harry was polite in rejecting his offer, so Louis can’t complain. Perhaps it’s also better this way, because Harry’s smell has started to spread in his flat and Louis doesn’t know how much more of that he could’ve taken before feeling tempted to stick his nose to Harry’s neck and sniff him.

Later that evening, Louis is summarising some of his notes from classes (and also writing in his not-diary how his first days and weeks in Holchap have been, but he won’t ever admit to that because diaries are for hipsters and kids) when he receives an email by a certain Ed Sheeran.

**_Hi Louis!_ ** ****

**_Harry told me you’re looking for a job soon. Coincidentally I’m looking for some support for my bookstore, so if you’re interested I’d like to meet you. How’s tomorrow around noon sound?_ ** ****

**_Best wishes_ **

**_Ed_ **

Well, that is quick. Not that Louis minds, it’s just surprising. When he had applied to jobs in Doncaster before, most employers had the audacity to take days, sometimes weeks to reply (and then pay him minimum wage for a maximum of work load. Louis hopes that’ll be different here).

**Hi Ed!** ****

**Thanks for your email! Yes, I’d like to meet you and noon tomorrow sounds good. Where do you want me to come?** ****

**Thank you in advance and have a lovely rest of the day** ****

**Louis Tomlinson**

Louis tries his best to sound friendly but at the same time to not kiss are too much, internally fighting whether the “have a lovely rest of the day” is too much before finally just hitting send. Ed probably won’t read that much into it anyway.

The remainder of the night is spent watching the new season of _Brooklyn 99_ and for the first time Louis actively notices how weird it is to him that it doesn’t contain a/b/o dynamics. Thinking about it, it’s kind of weird that he’s never seen proper representation of packs in any entertainment field. Normal minority suppression, he guesses. Because compared to the human population of England, packs only take up about fifteen to twenty percent, depending on the source.

It makes Louis almost proud how much he identifies as a pack member at this point. Sure, he’s confronted with it on the daily, but now it’s leaving marks, in a positive way.

Louis leaves his flat ten minutes early to head to the bookstore. Ed sent him the address last night and luckily it’s near the Malik café so Louis knows the region. He always prefers going places he finds without problems.

Mulligan books is a dreamy little bookstore at the corner down the street, with two glass fronts and the name writing in green, curvy letters above the entrance. Louis’ usually a fan of bookstore chains because it’s always a somewhat similar system, but this building - like most buildings in Holchap - has a certain charm upon it. He knows he shouldn’t stand and stare inside too long, because where he can see inside, Ed can probably see him on the outside and he doesn’t want to be the nervous weirdo.

A quiet bell rings above him when Louis pushes the glass door open to enter and he stops to take a look around. It’s larger on the inside than he would’ve guessed from outside, and crammed with shelves and stands that hold books. There’s a worn brown leather sofa relatively central that probably belonged to someone’s deceased aunt before, but Louis can imagine that it’s comfortable to sit on while flipping through the pages of a book you consider buying.

What Louis loves especially is that the little signs describing the genres and naming the book’s author sticking to the shelves are all handwritten, not printed. He’ll have to work on his handwriting though, if that’d be one of his tasks in the future. Which is maybe too optimistic, he doesn’t even have the job yet.

“Hey, are you Louis?” a ginger guy behind the counter straight ahead asks. Louis hasn’t noticed him before, and he must be a beta because Louis is only able to pick up a faint smell of … old paper? Or maybe that’s because he’s in a bookstore, he doesn’t know.

“Yup,” he replies as he moves closer. “You’re Ed?”

“That I am,” the other boy grins and extends a hand for Louis to shake. He doesn’t know what he expected, but this guy can’t be much older than himself, a couple years at most. Pretty young to be owning a bookstore on his own already.

“Nice to meet you! Glad you could make it. And welcome to Mulligan books.” Ed opens his arms in an inviting gesture and Louis once again lets his gaze wander around the store.

“It’s cool, I like this place. Has something to it.”

“Innit?” Ed grins. “Used to be my grandma’s bookstore before she passed. I took over about five years ago.”

“Oh, uh, sorry about your grandma?” Louis offers, making a face because he doesn’t know how to react. Ed stops him with the wave of his hand though.

“Don’t worry about it.” He turns around to grab two bar stools and pulls them closer before pointing at one. “Have a seat.”

Louis rounds the counter and sits. For a moment it’s a bit of a weird job interview, but he doesn’t see anyone else working in the bookstore right now, so Ed probably wants to have an eye on customers.

“This way,” Ed points to the door ajar behind him, “is the backroom, where you can eat something in your break and store your personal belongings and stuff. But I usually prefer to stay here because we don’t close around noon, so sometimes people do come in.”

Louis nods every few seconds to prove he’s listening and understanding. He’s feeling a bit queasy which is probably the nervousness, but he won’t let it show. Louis wants to leave a good impression after all.

“My only co-worker decided to move, so it’s only me right now, and sometimes my brother helps out. But I’d really appreciate if someone could take over some shifts. When would you be able to start?”

“Next week is my last week of inclusion, so the week after that,” Louis answers and feels slightly uncomfortable bringing up the topic of inclusion, but Ed doesn’t look judgey at all.

“And have you worked in a bookstore before? Or do you read much in your free time?”

Louis shakes his head. “I haven’t worked in a bookstore specifically, but in a ToysRUs, so in sales yes,” he addresses the first question. “And I’d lie if I said I’m a bookworm, but I still enjoy a good book.”

Ed laughs. “I appreciate the honesty.”

Smiling tight-lipped, Louis fidgets on his stool. His stomach feels like it wants to eject the yoghurt he ate before walking here. It doesn’t seem like Ed wants to continue this interview for another few hours, so he hopes he’ll work through with some calm breathing and distracting himself.

“I think I’d like to offer you the job, Louis,” Ed suddenly says and Louis perks up. “You seem like a good lad and I’m also too lazy to cast anyone else. So if you’re up for it, you can start the week after next.”

“Really?” Louis beams. That’d work out perfectly! Seamless transition between inclusion and a job, he wouldn’t feel useless for a single day.

“Yes. I’ll go and grab some documents for you to read through and bring back here,” Ed says, turns around and disappears into the backroom. Louis just rests in his seat and waits for the other man to return, while taking deep breaths in and out when suddenly the bell above the door rings and a teenage girl enters. She looks insecure until she spots Louis behind the counter and approaches him.

“Hello,” she mumbles as Louis springs up from his stool.

“Hey, how can I help you?” he smiles at her and hopes that Ed returns every second because he literally has no idea where anything is.

“I need this novel for school,” she says and pushes a note with some title and author Louis’ never read before towards him. Coincidentally, Louis thinks he saw the shelf with classical literature when he entered because it’s right to the left when you pass the sofa.

He points in the general direction. “Classical literature is over there, but I can also ask my boss if you can’t find it.”

“Thank you,” she says and follows his directions. Ed returns a few seconds later and pushes a thick pile of paper into his hands. “Don’t worry if you don’t know how to fill something in, we’ll figure it out then.”

“Uh, thanks,” Louis stares down at the pages before searching for the girl a few sections down from there. “There was a customer asking for a specific book, I hope she finds it where I suggested looking.”

“I’ll go take a look in a few seconds,” Ed says. “Are you alright?” He looks at Louis with worried eyes. Louis moves the hand from where he was subconsciously clutching his stomach and smiles his most convincing smile.

“Yeah, of course.” It’s a bit of a lie but Ed doesn’t need to know that.

“Okay.” Ed musters him for another few moments before letting it go and patting Louis on the back. “You’ll make a good book seller. I’ll be in contact next week.”

“Thank you. For everything.” For giving me a chance despite being different, Louis thinks. Or rather, having been different.

Ed goes to help the girl find her book and Louis leaves the bookstore after saying goodbye. The little bell rings above his head as he exits. He guesses he’ll be hearing a lot more of that in the future.

Originally Louis plans to have a quiet rest of the day and treat himself to some pizza because he discovered a nosh (called nosh-talgia, what a great name) on his way back that offers italian food, but then Niall texts him if he wants to meet up that night and Louis can’t refuse.

He takes a quick shower before getting dressed and when his vision is flickering black and white Louis decides that he definitely needs to shower a little colder the next time. It probably wasn’t his best idea to pop into a steaming hot shower right after coming home from the cold outside.

Niall has invited him to his flat for 7pm, so Louis leaves shortly before 6.30pm because Niall lives in a different borough, western of the market square, so it’s a bit of a hike from Louis’ place. The fresh evening air will do him some good though.

Central Holchap is almost car-free, with some cars parked half on the pavement, sure, but Louis barely sees people driving. Most people walk or bike, or occasionally use one of the busses that drive by a certain route every hour. It’s way less hectic here and Holchap’s inhabitants seem so much happier to live this way. Louis included.

The street to Niall’s flat is made out of cobblestones and it almost looks like it’s from the middle ages. Maybe he’d dig up some ancient finds underneath if he tried.

Niall lives on the first floor of a two-story house and Louis absolutely adores the interior. It looks way more modern than Louis has anticipated, with a big grey sofa and a kitchen that can’t be older than five years. And Louis’ definitely jealous of the balcony.

“The couple that lived here before me got it renovated but then one of them got pregnant and they moved out because they needed more space for their twin babies,” Niall explains.

_One of them got pregnant,_ Louis mentally repeats. Because in this world, all omegas have the ability to get pregnant, except for when they’re sick or something. It’s a thought to get used to, imagining that his male friend Niall can technically get pregnant, but he’s sure it’ll become normal to him in the future.

They lounge in Niall’s living room and the other omega proposes to order some pizza, to which Louis loudly cheers because he’s getting his pizza after all. It doesn’t take half as long as it does in Doncaster before it arrives because Holchap is small and the pizza place is close by.

After washing their greasy fingers, they sit back with their tummies full and each a bottle of beer resting on the couch table. Niall digs out his playstation controllers and asks Louis whether he likes to play fifa, and in that moment Louis is sure that their friendship is meant to be. Niall’s a worthy opponent too.

A good hour later, Louis makes Niall stop the game so he can go take a wee, but almost loses his balance as he gets up.

“Whoops,” he makes as he grabs the arm rest for support.

“Light-weight,” Niall coughs behind him. Louis flips him the finger in a joking manner, but he’s sure this is not from the one beer he’s had so far. He finds the bathroom without more incidents and does his business. When he looks in the mirror afterwards, he looks normal, but his neck feels hot and weird and he splashes some water on it. It’s a bit odd, seeing as Louis doesn’t have a temperature when he feels his forehead and cheeks, but well.

Niall is scrolling through some social media site when Louis re-enters the living room and sinks down in the sofa cushions. Leaning his head back against the rest, Louis closes his eyes for a second, trying to figure out how exactly his body is feeling and why.

“Another round?” Niall asks as he puts his phone away.

“Sure,” Louis sits up. Maybe this’ll distract him.

It doesn’t really, in the end. Louis lasts a good fifteen minutes before the dizziness is back and this time it’s way more intense. His vision is wonky despite sitting down and he blinks panicky. Next to him, Niall cheers again as he scores the 5:1, but Louis can’t focus on that right now.

“C’mon, don’t get lazy,” Niall teases as he starts another attack with his characters on the screen.

“Niall,” Louis presses out. “Niall, can you pause the game? I’m not feeling very well.”

His friend makes a protesting noise but immeaditely pushes the button to interrupt the game when he sees how Louis is cowering on the sofa with his eyes closed.

“Are you okay?” His eyebrows are narrowed and he looks worried, unsure how to help.

“’m dizzy.”

“Has this happened before?”

Louis attempts to nod but it only increases his dizziness, so he doesn’t. “Yeah, couple times during the last days.” He rolls his head to his right to look at Niall. “Do you think this is just regular sickness or are there omega-specific diseases?”

Niall’s face is the definition of clueless and helpless. “I don’t know? But you’re not going into heat, at least. I’d smell that.”

Sighing, Louis rubs at his neck when a pain shoots through the left side. “Ouch.”

“Is there any way I can help you right now?” Niall offers. Louis feels like shitty guest. They were supposed to have a fun Saturday evening but now he’s here, whining and complaining on Niall’s sofa like a baby.

“Not really. I just feel really queasy and dizzy.”

Niall eyes the area of skin Louis is rubbing at forcefully. “That’s where your bond mark would go. Maybe it is something omega-specific then,” Niall comments. “I’m going to call Liam and ask what to do.”

Louis wants to protest against that, because Liam doesn’t deserve to be interrupted at this time of the night, but he might puke if he opens his mouth so he doesn’t. The sofa moves when Niall shuffles around to look for his phone and Louis moans pitifully. This is even worse than the time he ate kebab and got food poisoning so bad he puked for eight hours straight.

“Hey Li,” Louis distinctively hears Niall talk into his phone. “Louis’ with me right now and he’s feeling very bad and I don’t know what to do. He says he’s dizzy and nauseous and his neck-” he interrupts himself as he covers the phone to ask Louis a question. “Does your neck hurt or what’s it feel like?”

“’s weird. Doesn’t really hurt, but there’s a lot of pressure?” Louis tries to explain it the best he can.

“He says there is a lot of pressure on his neck and he keeps rubbing the place his bond mark would go. Any idea what we should do?”

Louis can’t make out Liam’s answer because Niall doesn’t put the pack beta on loudspeaker, but internally, Louis is glad about it because he needs this moment of silence before he gets a headache on top of everything. Niall hums softly every once in a while and hangs up just a minute later before tending to Louis again.

“Liam's going to call his mum for help, she’s an omega specialist. I’m sure she’ll know what to do,” Niall explains and carefully rubs Louis’ shoulder in a comforting pattern. It’s nice of Liam and of course he’d try to find a way to help, but Louis is terribly embarrassed he’s disturbing so many people on a Saturday night. Now not only Liam, but also his poor mother who doesn’t even know Louis. Mrs Payne is most likely a lovely woman, but Niall said she’s an o-doctor, and those aren’t Louis’ favourites so far.

Louis doesn’t know how many minutes pass before Liam calls back and Niall picks up on the instant. The phone call only lasts a good half minute before Niall presses the red button on his phone screen and pockets it. He stands up and moves so that he’s in front of Louis, both arms extended to help Louis up.

“C’mon, we’re going to see Liam’s mum.”

Not moving an inch, Louis shakes his head no the best he can. “Noo, I’ll be better soon, just give me a few.”

“Bullshit,” Niall says and grabs both of Louis’ arms. “It’s Liam’s mum’s order and I wouldn’t fuck with Karen Payne. She is one fierce omega.”

It eases Louis’ mind a bit to hear that she’s an omega as well, unlike Mr Miller. Maybe an omega can relate to his feelings more than a beta. He’s weak and annoyed with his own body so Louis lets himself be pulled up on his feet. He’s a bit unsteady, but he’s not going to break down and Niall sighs in relief.

“Do you need a bucket to puke into? Or are you good?” Niall checks in on him with a suspicious look. “Warn me before you puke down the stairs. I’ll gladly lend you my cleaning bucket -it’s tested really well- but I don’t want to scrub the stairs when I come home.”

“Ew Niall,” Louis makes. He’d fake-retch at the mental image of Niall vomiting into a bucket if he weren’t so nauseous. He’s not going to risk throwing up though.

“So you don’t need one?” the other omega double checks as he helps him into his jacket.

“No, ‘m good I think.”

The air is cold outside, even colder than it was when Louis came here a couple hours ago, but Niall says the walk to the Payne’s house is short and Louis wants to believe him. The nurse knows his way without using maps or the like, and leads the two of them safely to the beige detached house with a tiny front garden. Louis concentrates on the garden gnome and his red cap while Niall rings the doorbell.

To Louis’ surprise, not only Liam’s mum Karen and his dad Geoff are inside, but also Liam and Harry. He’s ushered to the kitchen where Karen orders Louis to sit on the kitchen chair while she gets some utensils to examine him.

Niall hugs first Liam then Harry hello in the mean time.

“What are you doing here?” he asks the pack leader.

“I was at Liam’s when you called,” Harry replies but his gaze sways to Louis, who doesn’t break the eye contact. Harry’s face is mostly neutral and controlled, but there’s worry swinging in the way he frowns if Louis isn’t mistaken. It’s almost a curse, how Harry’s always there when Louis yet again causes involuntary drama. Or his body, mostly, he’s not at fault for this. And the worst thing may be that he’s not even feeling as bad as he did when they left Niall’s flat. There’s nothing more embarassing than going to a doctor and feeling completely fine when you’re in their office. Maybe Louis’ just hypochondriac?

“Don’t worry, Karen is a good doctor. You don’t need to be nervous,” Niall tries to comfort him with a pat to the knee. He’s taken to sitting in the chair next to him and Louis’ thankful because this way at least one person in the room is on his eye level.

Karen returns before long and places a sleek, black doctor’s case on the table next to them. Louis hopes with all his heart that this examination doesn’t resemble the one he went through with Mr Miller because oh boy is he not in the mood to pull down his trousers right now.

“Now shoo,” she says in a voice that’s far from unfriendly. “Out with you.”

Geoff hasn’t even been in the kitchen once and both alphas flee the room to grant them some privacy and Niall is about to leave as well when Louis fishes for his arm. “Can you stay?”

Niall checks in with Karen, who agrees, so he sits back down. The doctor starts right away, checking Louis’ temperature and eye reflexes, looking inside his mouth and feeling around his neck while Louis describes his symptoms and his experiences since the first shot with Dr. Corden.It’s not a long procedure and surprisingly, Karen doesn’t say anything but gets up to invite her son and Harry back into the kitchen.

“So what’s wrong with me?” Louis questions, feeling a tad uncomfortable with four pairs of eyes on him. He’s sure Mrs Payne has a reason to call Liam and Harry back into the room, but he hopes it’s not an embarrassing diagnosis. They don’t need to know everything. Instead of simply dropping a diagnosis though, Karen takes off her reading glasses.

“In certain situations, an omega’s body needs a constant attachment figure to feel well. Early childhood, for example. Shortly after consummating a mating bond and pregnancy of course,” she lists, making Louis blush. At least the last option can be ruled out for sure. Well, the other two as well.

“Turning from a human to a pack member is one of these situations as well. It's rare but it happens,” she continues and lets her gaze sway between the two omegas and two alphas before settling on Louis again. “Your body needs a more constant attachment figure in this time of change or it might reject its new environment.”

Louis stays silent, but Niall speaks up, voice worried. “That doesn’t sound very good.”

“It’s good we caught this now because it can get serious if it remains untreated.”

Gulping, Louis turns his head to look for comfort in his omega friend. “How serious?”

“Difficulty in breathing, mostly, internal bleeding in the worst case,” the Dr. states professionally.

It’s quiet in the kitchen for a second, only Liam shifting from one foot to the other is audible. Harry’s right next to him, leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. Both alphas are looking at Louis with some kind of pity.

“So Louis needs an attachment figure?” Liam pipes up for the first time.

What the heck even is an attachement figure? He’s not a freaking grey goose in one of Konrad Lorenz’ experiments and his body doesn’t need conditioning or the like. Louis’ been living without his parents quite fine and he’s not once yearned for a _constant attachment figure_. But whatever this entails, it sounds better than being hooked up to any machines in the hospital, that’s for sure.

“Yes,” Karen nods.

“It’s mostly when I’m alone or around betas,” Louis contributes, hoping it helps somehow. “Today with Niall was an exception.”

Once again nodding, Karen agrees. “That makes sense. Now Louis, whose smell is the strongest in the room for you right now?”

With two other omegas and two alphas in the room, the air is potent with mixed scents. There’s Niall’s coconut smell, then Karen’s nice but dampened smell that's unfamiliar to Louis so he can’t name what it is, and Liam smelling like… vanilla? And then there’s Harry. Harry, whose scent sticks out by far the most once Louis has caught a whiff of it, no matter how much he tries to focus back on Niall or Liam or Karen. The pack leader smells like the woods. Not a specific sort of tree, but rathera walk in the woods with a warm thermo cup of tea in your hand. Louis would never stop walking if he found a forest smelling like that. 

“Harry’s,” Louis admits with a blush. “But that’s normal because he’s the pack alpha, right?” He remembers picking up something along the lines in his a/b/o dynamics class.

Karen’s eyes dart to the pack leader shortly as she shakes her head, her forehead furrowed. “Not necessarily. Your body decides on the attachment figure it wants, that’s very individual.”

Harry’s still leaning against the counter, his fingers playing with the fabric of his shirt. He looks thoughtful, like he’s organising his mind. His head angles towards Liam’s mother and he swallows with his jaw clenched before he speaks up.

“The night he presented, I was probably the first one he smelled.”

“That might play a role too,” Karen says and suddenly hands Louis a glass of water that he hasn’t noticed she was preparing. He accepts his gladly though, as nipping on it is a welcome distraction. His throat feels dry after all the news that have been dropped onto him like an avalanche, so the liquid feels amazing.

“So what do we do with this information?” It’s Liam again.

“Sometimes omega smells like Niall’s don’t provide enough comfort for a distressed omega. It seems like Louis needs regular and comparetively intense alpha pheromones by the attachment figure his body chose. From what I’ve heard, at least for the duration of a couple days, maybe weeks.”

Louis doesn’t even dare to peek into Harry’s direction. What Karen is saying basically translate into _Louis is attracted to Harry,_ and Louis feels vulnerable, like everyone in the room has just read his diary and knows his most personal secrets. It’s not like Harry’s a silly school crush or anything, but probably everyone in the room suspects that this is not only about Harry being the first scent Louis was exposed to.

Trying to remain expressionless, Louis studies the ground beneath his feet. He hasn’t even taken off his shoes and he definitely needs to apologise to everyone involved for ruining their Saturday night. This is not the way he thought his weekend would go, that’s for sure.

“So in order for him and his omega to feel better, I need to be around him?” Harry clarifies.

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Harry says and exchanges a long glance with Liam before facing Louis. There’s no way for Louis to not look up and return his gaze, with the force Harry’s emerald eyes are emitting.

“You’re coming to my place tonight, Louis.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> Thank you once again for all the lovely feedback so far! Really makes me smile. :)
> 
> This is a very domestic chapter, I'd say, and it's definitely getting some plot rolling.. 
> 
> I hope you're all doing well and enjoy reading :)

The way Harry said that leaves no room for contradiction. Not that Louis would’ve wanted to contradict Harry in the first place. _You’re coming to my place tonight, Louis._

He doesn’t say anything at all though, not sure how he’s supposed to act socially acceptable. From Karen’s medical point of view it’s the best option for Louis to feel better, and Liam’s pack beta and therefore must protect the member’s interest as well. Sparing a glance to the side, Louis inconspicuously checks how Niall is feeling about the recent developments.

The omega is staring right back at him, asking silent questions with his eyes. _Is this okay with you?_

“Okay,” Louis says out loud then, so everyone knows where he’s standing right now. He slowly pushes himself up from the chair, swaying just slightly before finding his balance. It’s a bit ironic how Harry’s smell in the air makes him more stable instead of dizzy, because that’s what he’s expected.

Karen collects her utensils and clicks the doctor’s case shut while Niall and Liam converse quietly. Louis doesn’t catch the content of whatever they’re saying, instead focusing on sipping the last of his water, a welcome distraction from Harry’s eyes boring into the side of his face.

Liam and Niall are the first to exit the room, closely followed by Karen who’s heading to the living room to talk to her husband, leaving Harry and Louis alone in the kitchen.

“I need to go grab a couple things from my flat… if that’s okay?” Louis mumbles, feeling uncomfortable with the thought of not only depending on Harry but now also overusing his willingness to help by making brazen demands. It’s the last thing he wants Harry to think of him. But apparently he doesn’t need to worry about that because Harry only nods, jaw tight.

“We can do that,” he says and waits for Louis to walk out the door first. Maybe he imagines it, but Harry’s hand reaches out like he’s about to place it on his lower back before drawing back.

They say goodbye and extensive thank you to Karen, to which she replies with waving off the thanks and recommending Louis to check in with her in case his symptoms don’t get better or new ones occur. It’s dark and cold and way more quiet outside and it feels wrong to talk with their normal indoor voices because the Payne’s neighbours may be asleep already.

“So you’re going with Harry?” Niall halts when they’re standing on the pavement.

“I guess yeah,” Louis tries to play it cool. No one could see his blush thanks to the darkness, but he doesn’t need to risk it.

“Alright. Text me if something’s up,” Niall says and hugs Louis before stuffing his cold hands into his jacket’s pockets.

“Will do. And thank you for everything.”

Just like Karen did before, Niall just waves it off and says every good friend would’ve done that. Liam follows him suit and hugs both Harry and Louis goodbye, wishing Louis to feel better soon and have a peaceful night’s sleep. That one Louis is still doubting. Even as a child he’s always been hyped before sleep overs with his friends, but right now he’s downright agitated. He can only hope Harry doesn’t sense his nerves. Are they detectable in his scent? Louis doesn’t know.

They get going, and Louis lowkey notices how Niall and Liam both leave in the same direction. And it’s not the direction of Niall’s flat, if Louis remembers correctly. To be fair, his mind was a bit hazy on his way here, but he’s not that bad with orientation. He also hasn’t seen Liam and Niall say goodbye to each other. It’s just weird because usually the alpha would guard the omega home, not the other way round.

Louis realises he’s been caught up in his mind staring into the direction where Niall and Liam are disappearing when he looks around to find Harry standing a few feet from him, patiently waiting. His hands are buried in his jacket’s pockets as well, but unlike Niall, it makes his broad shoulders look even wider. Louis has to shake his head to stop this thought before it can do more damage than it already has.

“Everything alright?” Harry makes sure, but his voice isn’t pressuring Louis to finally get his arse moving.

“Yeah, sorry,” Louis hurries to say before catching up to the pack alpha.

Harry obviously knows his way around, as he should as the leader, and they start walking in silence. The street lights illuminate the pavement, the dark yellow light reflected by the stones beneath them. It must have rained during Louis’ short stay at the Payne’s, the air is fresher than before. Petrichor, or something that smell is called, Louis has read recently somewhere online. It’s caused by a complex mixture of water, certain components of the air and plant oils. It helps Louis breathe easier, but it doesn’t compare to the soothing effects of Harry’s smell in the slightest.

The walk to Louis’ flat is mostly silent, with the exception of Louis pointing out some bats above their heads. Harry’s eyes follow the animals attentively, but he doesn’t reply anything.

Inside his building, Harry keeps walking behind him even though he probably remembers the way to Louis’ door. The memory of Harry basically dragging him upstairs and into his room makes Louis blush and also cringe a little, but that’s in the past and he’s got other things to focus on right now. When Louis unlocks his door and steps inside, Harry doesn’t make a move to enter as well.

“You’ll wait here?” Usually Louis would invite Harry in, at least for a drink, but the pack alpha’s body language is pretty clear. With his arms behind his back, Harry nods.

“Yes.”

Not wanting to be rude, Louis considers leaving his door open, but the idea of Harry watching him bustle around is making him twitchy. Plus, he doesn’t want to wake his neighbours with the shuffling around.

He only packs a few essentials, like his bottle of suppressants after throwing a pill down his throat, and some comfy clothes to sleep in. He won't need it, but he still feels safer that way. His pyjama decidedly stays hidden beneath his blanket, as it feels a little to personal to already show up in his too-long superman bottoms and a long sleeved mickey mouse shirt that doesn’t match them at all.

A few short minutes later, Louis looks around to make sure he has everything before stepping out his flat and locking up, ruckbag thrown over his shoulders. Harry is leaning against the opposite wall and pushes himself away from it when Louis stores his keys away.

“I’m ready,” Louis announces and searches for Harry’s observant eyes. The pack alpha simply nods and gestures for Louis to get moving. Louis wonders whether that’s a typical alpha or a typical Harry thing to walk behind him to keep his back protected, or whether it’s just him being polite.

The walk to wherever Harry’s home is located is silent once again. By the time they’re passing the marketsquare and following the street behind the pack office, it’s already way past midnight. They don’t encounter anyone on the way despite it being a Saturday night, and Louis is grateful for that.

Another two minutes later Harry slows down and eventually stops in front of a three story building. Louis eyes it with interest.

“I live on the first floor, are you going to be okay with the stairs?” Harry says while turning the key in the lock.

“I think so, yeah,” Louis mumbles distractedly, focus still on the facade and the dark windows. He’s been feeling better the past half hour, which may have to do with the fresh air and physical movement, but to be honest, it’s probably the fact that he’s surrounded by Harry and his scent. The nausea that’s still plaguing him is manageable, he’s not a whiny baby.

Once they’re in the hallway of Harry’s flat, Louis finally allows himself to relax, trying to untense his shoulders. On the parquet floor beneath his feet there are a few shoes and boots, neatly arranged side by side, with a wardrobe above them.

“I don’t know why, but I kind of expected you to live in a house. Like, alone,” Louis dares to speak up as he unties his shoes and places them next to Harry’s. The pack alpha shrugs as he hangs Louis’ jacket.

“I don’t have a mate, or kids. I don’t even have a pet, so the flat is big enough for me as it is.”

Louis’ still nervous, twitchy about the whole situation and especially about what’s still to come. Harry casually talking about a bond mate or pups definitely isn’t helping here. Taking a look around the flat is a good distraction instead. The only other room Louis can guess is the kitchen straight ahead, with two other doors to the left and the right of the hallway each.

“Also, I want to my pack to feel like I’m one of them, and not above them,” Harry adds as he walks into the kitchen, filling up a glass of water for both of them. As he hands one drink over to the omega, Harry notices the backpack that’s still dangling from his shoulder.

“Oh, you can put this in my bed room,” he says and leads them to one of the closed doors. With the way he said it, it strongly sounds like Louis will be sleeping in Harry’s bed tonight. His insides are fluttering like there’s little insects (not butterflies, Louis’ not in love or anything) crawling around.

“Uh, I can take the couch… if you have one?“

Harry shakes his head no, his back to Louis and busy drawing the curtains closed. The community centre flat is nice, and Louis appreciates it loads, but it leaves few opportunities to personalise his living space. Harry’s flat and especially bed room just _fit_ him so much. His wooden bed is covered in white bed sheets with golden ornaments, his night stand holding a lamp and a book that looks like it could be a poem book.

“No, I’ll sleep on the couch in the spare room. Don’t worry.”

Gulping, Louis accepts the offer. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

They both head back to the kitchen and it feels even heavier than before. It’s late already, later than Louis planned on staying at Niall’s and later than he’s been going to bed lately. The night has been drawing out so long and it feels sort of surreal how much has happened in just a couple hours. Louis’ is exhausted, but there’s a reason he’s here at Harry’s.

“Are you hungry? I have some leftovers from lunch,” Harry offers, about to open the fridge.

“No thanks, I…” Louis declines, looking down to his feet. “I’m not feeling so good.”

Harry nods seriously where he’s leaning against the counter, like he did in Karen Payne’s kitchen. How can one look so fit simply standing and thinking? Before Louis feels the need to say something in order to ease the tension, Harry heads off to the connected living area. Louis follows after picking up his glass again to have something to hold with his hands. Closing the curtains in this room as well, Harry gestures for Louis to sit down on the black L-shaped couch that’s pushed against the wall to give a good view on the tv.

“Do you know how scenting works?“ Harry keeps standing next to the now covered window so that Louis needs to look up to him.

“I mean, the basics?” Louis grimaces and tries to mentally collect all the information he’s ever heard on this topic. To be honest it’s not too much right now. Harry is making him nervous with the way he’s basically hovering over Louis, way taller than him right now.

Harry nods curtly before moving over to sit down as well, although a good foot away from Louis to maintain a somewhat professional distance, if you can call it that.

“I’m going to explain it a bit more then,” Harry says and turns his body to face Louis while talking. This way he’s basically on Louis’ eye level, but it still feel like he’s got the higher ground.

“So basically, every pack member has a scent gland right here,” he points to the left side of his neck, the area that hurt earlier when Louis was wriggling around on Niall’s couch. “Scent glands in the neck are the main source of pheromones - the very individual mix of chemical fragrances -, though there are other minor ones such as genitals.”

Louis can feel the blush spreading on his face as he nods to show Harry he’s following.

“Now, strictly seen scenting includes two different processes, the first one being the act of pretty much… absorbing the partner’s scent by putting your nose close to their scent gland,” Harry continues. “The second one is technically considered scent marking. It’s when you consciously - or sometimes unconsciously - release pheromones around your opposite to, well, mark them with your scent.”

Harry’s eyes never leave Louis during the explanation, as to make sure he’s catching up and not holding back on any questions. With the way he’s illustrating and breaking down the concept of scenting, it’s hard not to understand. And with every further picture painted in Louis’ mind, he needs to put more effort into not physically reacting to it. The traiterous red in his cheeks is already enough.

“From what I’ve gathered, both will be helpfull in your case. It’s logical, it’s kind of collateral anyway.”

Which, yeah, does make sense. If Louis nuzzles into Harry’s neck and Harry’s scent spreads around him in the room, that’ll most likely help. Amongst other things. There’s no chance in hell Louis will be able to not show what Harry’s smell does to him, nuh uh. Scenting is a habit mostly couples pursue, or that’s at least what Nick said in a lesson. Harry and him definitely aren’t dating. They’re not even close to being in a somewhat serious relationship or any stage before that, but they’re still going to engage in an act that usually is related to that. It makes all the alarm bells in Louis’ head ring very, very loudly because this _screams_ risk of attachment.

“Okay,” Louis gulps.

“Do you have any more questions? Don’t be afraid to ask if you do.”

Louis ponders for a second before shaking his head no. “I’m good for now, I think.”

“Alright.” Harry looks content so far. He lets his head roll back until the bones in his upper back crack to release the tension. “I’d suggest we just try it out and see if it helps. You can - no, I _want_ you to stop me the moment you start to feel uncomfortable or whatever. This is about you, not me.”

Harry’s stare is incredibly intense, and it just underlines how serious he is about this. This is the pack alpha caring for one of the omegas and their needs in his pack, not him conducting an experiment for fun.

“Okay,” Louis repeats, quietly.

Before Louis knows it, Harry is shuffling closer on the couch. He’s glad Harry is making the quite literal move, because Louis doesn’t feel like moving all too much right now. Next to him, Harry rests back against the pillows behind him, legs spread not obscenely but in a way you’d expect from a confident alpha. His arms propped up on the backrest of his couch, Harry’s gaze searches for Louis’ eyes again, which are currently focused on the bulging muscles of Harry’s upper arms.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

It’s no use, and either Louis gets it over with now or they keep awkwardly staring at each other and that’s not very comfortable. He inches over until their legs are touching. When he peers at Harry’s exposed neck, the pack alpha shoots him an encouraging smile but doesn’t pressure him to finally get a grip and start.

Harry holds himself back with the release of pheromones, Louis guesses. He himself isn’t even sure he’s able to control his smell like that, but so far it hasn’t been a problem.

The second Louis finally indulges himself and closes the distance to stick his nose into Harry’s neck, he can’t hold back the sigh of relief. His senses are flooded with Harry’s calming pheromones and Louis’ eyes fall shut. Mental images of a deep green, untouched forest pop up in his mind. The fresh air, the kiss of the shallow window ruffling through the thick branches of leaves, the feeling of the caving undergrowth beneath his feet. Louis’ never lived close to a proper forest, but now it feels like this has been an essential part missing from his life.

Harry adjusts his head, tilting so that he’s even closer to Louis’ face, his arm curving around the omega’s back. It’s intimate, yes, but at least Harry seems to be in full control as of now. He starts releasing more of the soft pheromones when he senses Louis is able to handle it.

The scent is marvellous. It’s helping with every struggle Louis can think of, physically and mentally. He’s positively drowning in it, it’s stealing his breath in the best way possible. It’s nothing like not being able to breathe when you’ve got a terrible cough, no, it’s like finally taking a deep breath after being underwater for slightly too long.

Louis catches himself before he fully loses himself in the poetic shit he can’t help but think. It’s only been a couple minutes and he already feels so much better, he doesn’t even want to imagine how much of a high feeling he’d slip into if they were to do this more often and for longer periods of time.

In a rush of confidence, Louis brings up a hand to pull down the collar of Harry’s tshirt so that he has better access to the magical source of feeling well. It doesn’t damage the piece of clothing, and Harry probably wouldn’t comment on it even if it did, but it’s the first time Louis is actively taking action, and that doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Good?”

“Yeah,” Louis breathes as rests the side of his face on Harry’s shoulder, too lazy to strain his neck unnecessarily. From the outside, it probably looks more than platonic, especially considering the intensity of the scenting that’s continuously going on, but Louis doesn’t care. This is happening behind closed doors and no one should stick their nose into their business. Literally.

They stay like that for a good twenty minutes and Louis’ scent is probably detectable as well, but not for him. Not for his nose that’s completely filled with Harry’s scent that’s overpowering everything else in the room. You could rub sulphur, a ton of garlic, his unwashed socks right into Louis’ face and he wouldn’t be able to smell it, that’s how completely taken up his senses are right now. It’s like a drug, and he doesn’t know whether this is normal for all the … engaging couples, but if that’s the case, _boy_ are humans missing out.

While Louis could go on like this for most of the night, he takes one last deep breath before leaning back and breathing out. Harry’s done so much for him already, he should be granted some rest, and being the caring and polite pack alpha he is, he probably wouldn’t have ended this session any time soon unless he felt Louis was exploiting him. Which, maybe he is, but it’s for a medical reason, so Louis doesn’t feel too guilty.

“Are you feeling better?” Harry checks as he carefully musters Louis.

“Yeah,” Louis says as he relaxes against the pillows.

“Good, I’m glad.” Louis’ sure Harry has the tiniest hint of a smile on his face, but he doesn’t dare to look. He needs another couple seconds before he trusts his legs enough to carry him to another room.

“I think I’m good to go to bed,” he announces after a while. Bed meaning Harry’s bed, which Louis almost forgot about due to his mind being… preoccupied.

Harry pushes himself up from the couch and lingers around to see whether Louis is indeed physically capable of getting up himself before disappearing into the bathroom. They both get ready for bed, Louis changing into the comfortable clothes he brought while Harry’s brushing his teeth, then switching locations.

Louis would never bring it up, but he finds himself wishing Harry would join him in bed. Not in a naughty way, but just because he’ll miss the proximity he got to experience tonight.

And well, there it is. The first signs of addiction. That’s even faster than Louis has expected. Damn Karen Payne and her therapeutic suggestions, how is Louis supposed to handle the craving for something _more_ every time he lets himself be scented by Harry?

Of course, it doesn’t turn out the way Louis’ romantic side has pictured it. Harry does come into the room when Louis is sitting cross legged on the bed, to check up whether he’s okay for the night. Louis confirms that yes, he thinks he’ll be able to fall asleep quickly. They wish each other a good night after the eventful day both of them had and Harry retreats to what Louis presumes is the guestroom on the other side of the hallway. As he drapes Harry’s blanket over his body, Louis can hear Harry settling into his sleeping accommodation. This is just the first day of what may be a long journey of fully emerging in his new pack life.

Sunday mornings are usually spent lazily lounging around, watching telly with breakfast in bed. Naturally, waking up in Harry’s flat is a bit different to that. Louis feels okayish but not perfect when he wakes up around 10. Is it because his body’s been missing Harry’s pheromones? Or maybe he’s just paranoid and imagining things.

When he crawls out of bed, hair sticking up wildly, he hears noises from the kitchen that’s bordering to Harry’s bedroom. Louis rubs his eyes to see clearly and unplugs his phone from the charger.

As he enters the kitchen, he sees an already fully dressed Harry standing at the stove and scrambling eggs.

“G’morning,” Louis mumbles to make his presence known. Harry turns around and a smile plays around his lips when he sees how drowsy Louis still looks.

“Morning. Sleep well?”

“Yeah,” Louis replies and helps himself to some orange juice. Normally he’d be hesitant to do so, but there are two glasses next to the bottle on the table, so it’s safe to assume one is intended for him. “You too?”

Harry nods as he turns off the stove and distributes the scrambled eggs on two plates. “Yes, my guest bed is more comfortable than I thought.”

“You could’ve slept in your bed, I wouldn’t have minded,” Louis says, not meeting his eyes. He accepts the plate Harry is handing him and plops down on one of the wooden chairs. Harry even has orange and red seat cushions and it’s little details like this that make Harry’s flat home-y and not look like a temporal housing like Louis’ flat.

“It’s fine, really.” Harry sits down across from Louis after grabbing some more groceries and placing them on the table.

“Thank you for making breakfast.”

“It’s not much,” Harry waves it off as he reaches for a slice of toast. “I’m no Trisha Malik.”

He isn’t, but the eggs are still delicious and you can’t really go wrong with toast and fruits on the side either. Louis appreciates the effort as Harry could’ve just sent him home to eat alone, but of course Harry isn’t like that.

Chewing and swallowing makes deep breaths a bit difficult, so Louis has to decide whether he wants to focus on breakfast or Harry’s scent for now. His stomach is voting for the first one, so he digs in. Hopefully they’ll have time for some scenting later.

All through breakfast and the occasional small talk interaction, the uneasy fidgety feeling doesn’t leave and thankfully, it’s not in the form of nausea this time. It’s more of a headache, and a tingle of Louis’ skin, especially around the neck. He finishes eating first and restlessly waits for Harry to do so as well. After some minutes, Harry finally places his knife on the plate and stands up to carry the dirty dishes to the counter. Louis springs up to assist him, sorting the groceries back into the fridge wherever necessary.

Unfortunately, Harry doesn’t show the slightest inclination to suggest some more scenting and Louis wonders if it’s on purpose or not. Perhaps the alpha wants him to approach him about this topic, or perhaps it’s just not on his mind right now. Either way, Louis isn’t very keen on the prospect of heading home without it.

“Uh, Harry?” Louis speaks up reluctantly where he’s standing in the middle of the kitchen, the cleared table behind him not providing any more tasks for him to tend to.

“Mh?” Harry makes, his back to Louis. The omega can’t help but watch the way Harry’s back muscles move every time he scrubs at the dirty cutlery or places a clean and dripping wet glass next to the sink.

“Can we, uh… you know?” he almost cringes at how awkward he sounds. This is not sex ed, this is Louis, a grown up omega, asking Harry, a grown up alpha, whether they can engage in some more platonic scenting. It shouldn’t feel so suggestive.

Harry’s unproblematic though. For a second he inspects Louis’ facial expression, which is still mostly dominated by shame and uneasiness, his eyebrows drawn together like he’s trying to figure out if Louis’ been pretending to be okay all this time.

“Sure,” he agrees easily anyway. “Let me just wash up quickly.”

“I can help,” Louis offers and fetches the kitchen towel. He stands next to Harry as he dries off the freshly washed items. Maybe it’s unconsciously strategic because this way he’s already close to Harry and the natural pheromones are stronger than further back in the room.

“You can leave it,” Harry says when he’s done with the washing.

“No, I’m almost done,” Louis insists, so Harry starts opening the cupboards and drawers to put away everything Louis’ already towelled off. It’s an effective system and the kitchen looks tidy as ever after mere minutes.

It’s a bit nerve-wrecking to anticipate who’s going to make the first move, but both of them initiate it at almost the same time. Harry’s leaning against the counter and waits for Louis to put down the folded towel as Louis moves closer to him until Harry angles an arm around him without really touching him.

“We can move to the couch,” Harry suggests as Louis nuzzles closer to his neck.

“’m good,” Louis sighs.

Harry seems okay with that and simply lets Louis do as he pleases. Although Louis is careful to keep a certain distance between them, with a few inches between most parts of their bodies, Harry sneaks the arm tighter around him, pulling him in. Their chests are touching and it only makes scenting easier, so Louis doesn’t complain.

“How are you feeling?” Harry hums in a soft voice as to not disturb the moment. Louis needs a second to register he’s expected to answer.

“Weird. Got a headache. It’s getting better now though.”

“Good.” Harry’s hand rubs Louis’ back ever so slightly, like he’s trying to comfort him.

They stay in this position for a while. Louis’ mind is clearer this time, less overwhelmed by Harry’s pheromones but just as grateful for their effect. A quiet walk in the woods shortly after dusk. The chirping of the birds early in the morning. The first morning light breaking through the leaves, travelling through the air to touch the wild flowers on the ground.

Louis wishes he could explain how much it helps it, but Harry’s been familiar with the concept of scenting all his life. He probably knows this feeling. The last thing Louis wants to think about is other people making Harry feel this way.

“I need to pick up some documents from Liam's later,” Harry breaks the silence. Louis has no clue if Harry’s eyes are closed like his or open and staring at the wall like he’s just trying to get over with this. He hopes it’s the first option though.

“If you’re up for it, you could tag along and I can take you home after that.”

Right now Louis would probably agree to everything that grants him some more time with Harry, so it’s a no brainer.

“Okay. Wanted to thank Liam again anyway.”

“Alright,” Harry says as he releases a new wave of pheromones that make Louis swoon. “D’you want to shower before that?”

Louis simply shakes his head no. He showered last night before heading to Niall’s. And maybe he’s also worried he’ll get rid of the tiniest hint of Harry’s smell that may cling to him after this. If that’s how it works. His nose still isn’t comparable to a born omega’s one so it’s hard for him to recognise strange scents on other people. Either way, the point is, Louis doesn’t want to shower.

They continue scenting until Harry moves his leg and nudges Louis in the process, making him pull back after opening his eyes.

“Enough?”

_No,_ Louis wants to say, but that’d be a lie and he doesn’t like lying. He’s feeling good right now, as good as he did last night when he went to bed. Hopefully it’ll stay like this for a couple hours, but he doesn’t need to worry about it for now because he’ll have Harry around for a bit more.

“Yeah,” he replies eventually.

Harry smiles at him as he runs a hand through his hair, and Louis hopes him returning the smile can convey how truly thankful he is. How thankful he is that Harry is the one his body chose as an attachment figure and that Harry is willing to help him out.

They arrive at Liam’s shortly before noon. Louis’ never been to Liam’s before, obviously. The pack beta lives in a flat similar to Harry’s but more southern in Holchap. It’s not the direct way home to Louis, but he doesn’t mind the detour.

What Louis doesn’t expect is to meet Niall at Liam’s. The omega greets them enthustiastically as soon as they’ve entered Liam’s flat and Louis needs a second to wipe the confused frown off his face. Niall can be wherever he pleases. It’s just - Louis saw Liam and Niall leaving together late yesterday night and now Niall’s already here as well? That screams sleeping over. And it supports Louis’ suspicions about them hooking up. He’ll have to ask Harry about that.

Apparently Harry has texted Liam beforehand because he’s already got the stack of papers ready and hands them over.

“How are you feeling, Louis?” the pack beta smiles kindly.

“Better,” he replies honestly. Louis feels Harry’s eyes on him, like he’s making sure Louis’ actually telling the truth and not just saying that because everyone expects him to say it.

“Yeah?” Liam beams in relief.

“Yeah. Please tell your mum thank you again. And sorry for ruining everyone’s Saturday night.”

Niall shakes his head vehemently. “None of that. I’m glad we found out what’s going on with you. You really scared me last night.”

“Sorry,” Louis grimaces. Now would be a good time to feel Harry’s reassuring hand on his back, but the pack alpha doesn’t touch him at all. A real shame.

“You got everything?” Liam now addresses Harry and points to the documents in his hands.

Harry flicks through them and rolls them up before Louis can sneak a look. “I think so.”

Liam and Harry talk some more about what meetings are held when the following day, but Louis mostly zooms out of that conversation. He doesn’t know what they’re talking about anyway. Not long after that, Harry announces that the two of them will be heading out. Niall proposes a lads night in the near future, and everyone agrees eagerly.

“Hopefully without Liam’s mum though,” Louis jokes as they exit Liam’s flat.

Back at Louis’ building complex, they come to a halt outside the front door downstairs. The half hour walk there was easy, with both of them being more awake and talkative than the previous night. They converse about how Liam and Harry grew up together and how Harry’s known Karen Payne for all his life and that she’s a great woman.

“Are you okay for now?” Harry inquires as Louis' checking multiple of his backpack’s pockets for his keys. He misplaces them all the time.

_Are you okay to be alone right now?_ is what Harry is asking. _Or do you need another… fix?_ That sounds like he’s a drug addict. Which maybe isn’t too far off, if they’re being honest.

“Yes, yes,” Louis agrees hastily. The cool spring air has cleared not only his lungs but also his mind and if he thinks about taking up more of the pack alpha’s time, he’ll feel so guilty. He doesn’t want to be a bother more than he already is, even though is body is whining for another batch of pheromones.

Now, Harry is pack alpha for a reason. Besides being born into that legacy, of course. He squints his eyes, seemingly catching onto the little lie Louis is telling him.

“Be honest,” he demands.

Louis sighs defeatedly as he fishes his keys from the bottom of the backpack. “Okay,” he admits. “You’re right.”

He doesn’t want to spell out _I need you to scent me some more_ , but he doesn’t need to.

“I’ll come up with you.”

They encounter some beta girl in the stair case, and Harry greets her in a standard friendly manner. She murmurs a “Hello” back, but the confusion in her voice is audible. Understandable seeing as Holchap’s pack alpha is currently following an unbonded omega upstairs to his flat.

It’s no wonder Harry deems it improper to scent him on the pathway to the residence, he’s got a reputation to lose after all. The pack doesn’t know about Louis’ peculiar condition.

Louis unlocks the door and steps in, Harry on his heels. Setting down the backpack next to his bed, Louis watches Harry close the door behind himself. He wonders how they’re going to go about this because Louis doesn’t have a couch and pushing two chairs together isn’t a very comfortable option. Harry makes no moves to sit down on the bed though, probably again because that’s improper for a pack alpha. Instead he stands in the middle of the room and nods his head for Louis to come closer.

“Come here,” he says as he opens his arms slightly, not enough for a hug but enough to spur the omega into action. Louis buries his face into the crook of Harry’s neck before being able to overthink. It’s going to become muscle memory if they keep this up so frequently.

It’s quicker this time. Just one short cig to dampen down the need, not a whole pack to pump your body up on nicotine. Louis pulls back the second he feels okay to let Harry go. This wasn’t planned in the first place, and Harry deserves to get home and chill after everything he’s done the past 15 hours.

“Thank you.“ Louis scratches his neck, not because it’s itching but rather because it occupies his otherwise useless hand.

“It’s no problem.”

Harry would try to help every pack member. In a doable scope, sure, but it’s his responsibility as the pack alpha. Louis needs to hammer that into his stupid brain. Louis’ brain is a bit hazy when Harry moves to the door, but it still screams _this is another bullet point on Harry’s to-do list, no need to feel special_ , and the little voice is right.

“Do you have your phone here?” Harry asks with a hand on the door handle.

“Uh, yeah.” Louis pats his trouser’s back pockets before he finds it in the right one and pulls it out. When Harry gestures for him to hand it over, he complies without a question, unlocking it.

“I put my number into your contacts,” Harry explains as he hands it back. “Contact me when you feel we need to meet up. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to make it possible whenever.”

Louis gulps and mutters a “thank you” before the pack alpha says goodbye and is out of the door.

The rest of the day, Louis busies himself with class work and other semi-important tasks. He summarises the text his a/b/o law and social sciences teacher asked them to read, then cooks (“cooks”) himself some lasagna, aka heats it up. Around 4pm he starts to feel fidgety again, so Louis chooses to google what working at a bookstore entails. It doesn’t seem too complicated from what he can find, and he’s sure Ed will work him in properly. Louis scrolls through some lists of classical novels and shamefully realises he only recognises the two he had to read in secondary school.

When he’s done with that and a much needed round of laundry, it’s still not late enough to make dinner and Louis doesn’t feel like watching telly. In the end he goes for a run, and about five minutes in he remembers he hates jogging but he still pushes through and finishes a round of thirty minutes. It feels good to use his stiff legs and power himself out, because it’s been a while since he’s last played footie. He should ask Niall about another session soon.

Unfortunately Louis starts feeling the familiar queasiness in the pit of his stomach when he strips out of his sweaty sports wear. He ignores it and heads for the shower, regretfully removing not only the drying sweat but also any last remains of Harry’s smell. Louis’ not going to cave in and contact Harry though, that’d be ridiculous. It’s barely been five hours since Harry left, he’s not _that_ needy. No, he’ll just browse through his social media to distract himself and then get a good night’s sleep and wake up well rested for his classes.

He caves in an hour later. With his phone already in his hands, the step to text Harry isn’t that far. Who knows, maybe Harry doesn’t even check his messages regularly and misses it, then Louis doesn’t need to fret about it anyway.

**Come over.**

Harry replies in a matter of ten minutes and Louis isn’t proud to admit it, but his heart rate picks up when he sees the incoming message.

**Only if I’m really not interrupting anything** , Louis types back.

**You’re not. Are you feeling well enough to make it here or do you want me to come pick you up?**

**No, I’m good.** It sounds like he’s just playing his nausea, so Louis adds **It’s just my stomach, I’m not dizzy.**

Louis’ on his way five minutes later. It’s already dark outside, but after a good four weeks in Holchap, he’s starting to know his way around. The village is not that big after all, and Harry’s flat is relatively central.

While one side of him is excited to see (and smell) Harry again, the other side hates himself the slightest bit because he’s so _weak_. If he really wanted to, he could’ve made it to Monday, but he just gave up like a wuss. Louis’ll need to condition himself to last longer before running back to Harry, and maybe that’ll come naturally with time.

He contemplates texting Harry that he’s downstairs, but in the end just rings the bell. Harry knows he’s coming and the neighbours most likely aren’t alseep already, so it should be fine. Walking up the stairs has Louis out of breath and he hopes to be able to catch his breath but Harry is already waiting in the door frame. It feels longer and shorter than 6 hours since Louis last saw him at the same time.

“Hi,” Louis pants. “Again.”

Harry chuckles. “Come in.”

A delicious smell hits Louis in the hallway. He slips out of his shoes and jacket as Harry walks into the kitchen.

“I’m cooking some casserole. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” Louis shrugs. “But I don’t want to eat up your food.”

Harry waves it off. “I made more than enough, don’t worry.”

While Harry tends to the meal preperation, Louis randomly opens the kitchen cabinets to lay the table. The casserole is almost ready and Harry’s alarm clock starts beeping exactly when Louis places the last fork on the table. It’s weird to think that this is alread the second meal they’re having together today.

They dine together and Louis compliments Harry’s cooking skills multiple times. The alpha is definitely more of use than Louis himself in the kitchen. Nonetheless, Louis is anxious for dinner to end. Cleaning up is done quickly and Harry fills up their glasses of water before carrying them over to the couch table.

It reminds Louis of last night, but this time Harry obviously doesn’t need to explain anything. Louis plops down on the couch in the same spot he sat yesterday.

“Want to watch some tv on the side?” Harry asks and grabs the remote.

“Sure.”

Harry switches on the tv and zaps through the channels until he stops at BBC1. It’s not like Louis plans to pay attention anyway.

“I’m sorry for annoying you again,” Louis apologises as he cuddles up to Harry, his face pressed to his chest.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not annoying me,” Harry replies and wraps his arm arounds his shoulder. It doesn’t feel as intense this way, with them casually cuddling rather than Louis trying to inhale Harry’s skin. Harry’s scent floods the room as Michael McIntyre flits across the screen.

A few hours pass and McIntyre is replaced by the BBC Weekend News, and Louis feels his eyes fall shut. He’s not that tired, but he can’t be bothered to keep his eyes open when seeing is not the sense he’s focused on.

Louis doesn’t know what time it is when Harry nudges him, but he realises that he’s slid down so that his head is lying in Harry’s lap.

“Louis.”

He doesn’t react. He’s so cosy and he doesn’t want to go home through the cold and dark night right now. Maybe Harry will let him sleep over on the couch if he pretends to be in deep slumber?

“Louis,” Harry tries again. ”Louis, wake up.”

“Mh,” Louis complains and shields his eyes from the light with his hand. He hears Harry chuckle above him and the corners of his mouth twitch upwards as well.

“Come on, I can see you smiling. It’s already past eleven.”

“Noo,” Louis whines again, unwilling to move. He places his hand next to his face on Harry’s thigh. “I’ll just sleep here, don’t mind me.”

“No you won’t.” Harry doesn’t sound pissed off by Louis’ shenanigans, but his voice is serious nonetheless, making Louis roll onto his back and open his eyes to check Harry’s face for any visible emotions.

“If you’re sleeping over, you’re taking my bed,” Harry continues, looking down to Louis. His curls fall into his face and if he were to bow down some more, they’d tickle Louis’ face. He wouldn’t mind that.

“Would that be okay by you?”

“I wouldn’t offer it otherwise.” So Harry is playing along. “But only if you’re getting up now, I need to sleep,” he teases and laughs when Louis scrambles up immediately.

Obviously Louis didn’t bring any spare clothes this time around, so he waits for Harry to realise that. Good thing he at least took his heat regulators already. When the alpha is done brushing his teeth, he enters Louis’ aka his own room and finds Louis standing in the middle of the room unsure.

“You can wear these, if you want,” Harry says and opens the closet to grab a pair of joggers and hand them to Louis. “They’re freshly washed.”

“Thank you.”

“Also, this,” and _holy shit he is taking off his shirt_. Harry fumbles around until the shirt isn’t turned inside out anymore before holding it for Louis to take. This must be the most unprofessional thing he’s done so far, though maybe in the pack world scenting is more intimate than seeing another male shirtless. Either way, Louis is stunned into silence.

“Uh,” he makes as he reaches for the piece of clothing slowly.

“You don’t need to wear it or anything, but maybe it’ll help you sleep,” Harry explains his train of thought, but Louis is barely listening. His eyes are trained on Harry’s abs instead, and if Harry notices that he doesn’t comment on it.

“Thanks,” he finally stammers.

Harry smiles, running one hand over his other arm. “I have an important meeting at 8 tomorrow.”

“I’ll be out of your hair as early as possible,” Louis promises. The fabric of Harry’s basic black shirt is still warm from Harry’s body temperature and that’s incredibly distracting. He hopes he’ll be able to slip it on before it goes cold as soon as Harry’s gone.

“Sleep well, Louis,” Harry smiles and leaves the room. Louis doesn’t allow himself to think about Harry stripping out of his jeans. That wouldn’t make a good combination with Harry’s smell.

Giving Louis the shirt he wore all day is such a boyfriend thing to do. Louis’ inner omega coos and he can’t help the grin spreading on his face as he pulls off his own shirt for Harry’s to take its place.He doesn’t wake up once that night and dreams of green eyes and green forests.

Louis wakes up without having set an alarm clock the next morning, which is a rarity for him. He rolls around until he feels mentally ready to sit up in bed and stretch his arms with a yawn. Has there been a time he’s woken up more rested? Probably not. Harry’s comfortable bed and his lingering scent do the job.

Just when Louis is about to grab his phone from the night stand, there is a knock on the door.

“Yeah?”

Harry’s face appears as the door is pushed open. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

“Woke up like three minutes ago,” Louis nods.

Harry’s eyes narrow in on Louis’ upper body, his legs still covered by the blanket. It takes Louis a second to realise why: he’s still wearing Harry’s shirt. And Harry gave it to him on his own accord so he shouldn’t feel as shameful as he does, but it still feels very intimate.

“Bathroom’s free, if you need it,” Harry announces eventually, not reacting to their non-verbal exchange.

“Thanks.” Louis stays in Harry’s bed until the door is closed again, mentally replaying what just happened.

Harry’s shirt barely holds any remains of Harry’s smell after Louis’ slept in it all night, but he still impulsively decides to wear it for the day under the pretence of wanting to wash it for Harry. The fact that he doesn’t plan on bringing the joggers home goes blissfully ignored.

After stuffing his face with some granola Harry offered him, Louis leaves Harry’s flat with Harry following him. Harry’s going to head straight to work at the pack office while Louis makes a short detour to his flat to fetch his notes before class. It’s his last week and he doesn’t want to slack off now, especially with how well prepared he is for the law and social science class.

How will people react if they see Louis exiting Harry’s flat early in the morning, after sleeping over? Will they judge him?

Louis’ ripped from this thoughts when a teenage boy across the street greets Harry while noticeably eyeing them curiously. Great. Harry wishes the boy a good day at school and Louis admires how close everyone in Holchap seems. The population is relatively small, sure, but that doesn’t mean the leader needs to show a personal interest in the pack member’s life. Doncaster's mayor certainly wouldn't recognise Louis. 

Harry says his goodbye when they arrive at the marketplace and their ways part. Louis doesn’t mind too much, he’s excited for class and he’s sure it won’t be long until he sees Harry again.

Louis makes it to the classroom just in time and that’s good enough considering the eventful days he’s had recently. Hastily he unpacks his folder and a pen before turning his attention to the teacher.

The thing is, his teacher’s voice isn’t the only thing his ears pick up a couple minutes into the class. The girls trio sitting behind him are “whispering” about how Louis’ clothes obviously carry the scent of an alpha. All three of them are omegas and noisy as fuck, and Louis’ avoided them ever since he first encountered them.

“It’s Harry’s smell,” one of them states. “I’m a hundred percent sure. I’d recognise his scent everywhere.”

Louis momentarily freezes in his movements before schooling himself into pretending to take notes. He doesn’t know whether the girls _want_ him to hear their gossip or not, but he’s not going to grant them the success of a negative reaction. And he’s definitely not going to get jealous of her. Harry’s scent is prominent and strong whenever he’s in the room and Louis would be naive to think other omegas don’t feel the same way. He can’t win against nature.

“He’s probably trying to sleep himself up the social ladder,” another girl assumes. “Isn’t it sad how some people seek validation by coming on to Harry?”

The other two agree, because of course they do. They’re wrong though. Louis’ not trying to curry favour with Harry. He physically feels terrible if he doesn’t sniff Harry’s pheromones regularly and he’s not going to apologise for something his body needs. Niall taught him that much. Louis’ also not going to apologise for liking the scenting just because the tacky girls behind him are jealous. Because he’s sure that’s the real issue here. They’re not smelling like Harry after all.

Nonetheless, Louis can’t help but feel hurt. He tries his best to ignore their chatter throughout the rest of the class, but their words don’t leave his mind for the rest of the day. That’s how much damage a simple sentence can do. Maybe he should talk about it to Niall, the other omega may have a good advice or two for him. Or he’ll distract him with video games and food.

Louis lasts the whole Monday without contacting Harry again, which is mostly thanks to Niall keeping him occupied via text. In his Tuesday afternoon class though, Louis can’t deny that he’s starting to feel queasy again and he tries to brush it aside by sipping some water, but it doesn’t help for long. He texts Harry the second he’s out of class.

Lingering around the community centre ground for a couple minutes, he waits for a response, but Harry doesn’t answer immeaditely. He’s probably busy in a meeting or something. Louis decides to get some food in case Harry is preoccupied for longer, and before he knows it, his feet carry him to café Malik. It’s been a while since he’s eaten there.

The café is well vistited when Louis enters and scans the room for a free table. As soon as he’s seated, Louis spots the Samosas on the menu and gives them a try. The first bite is heavenly and Louis swears himself he’ll have to work himself through the other meal options as well.

Shoveling some more food into his mouth, Louis notices two familiar faces near the bar.

“Louis, hi!” Gigi approaches him the second she sees him looking at them.

“Hi,” he tries to smile with a full mouth, grabbing his drink.

His phone screen lights up with an incoming call before they can continue the conversation and Louis apologises himself when he sees it’s Harry. They’ve never called each other before.

“Hi?“ he accepts the phone call.

“Hey, I just read your message. Where are you right now?”

“Café Malik,” Louis replies.

“Great, I’ll come around, okay?” Footsteps can be heard on Harry’s side of the line so it seems like he’s already on the way.

“Uh. Sure?”

They hang up just when Zayn follows his girlfriend with little Mavis in the carrier.

“Sorry,” Louis repeats and turns to Gigi again. “How have you been? How’s this little cutie?”

“Great!” Gigi beams, taking the wide awake baby out of the carrier and hoisting her up. “We’re trying to get her used to solid food now, but it’s been difficult so far.”

“I can imagine,” Louis sympathises. “My sisters were fussy as well.”

Gigi and Louis engage in a light conversation about babies around Mavis’ age, how she’s mostly been sleeping through the night but hates daytime napping when she’s in a mood. How thrilled Gigi is for Mavis to sit unsupported soon.

Zayn mostly stays quiet where he’s standing next to his beta. Louis doesn’t take it personal, he barely knows the man while he’s talked to Gigi before.

“Meeting up without me, I see how it is,” they’re suddenly interrupted by a voice approaching from the side. Louis hasn’t even noticed Harry entering café Malik because he’s been so in awe of the giggling baby in Gigi’s arms.

The pack alpha pats Zayn on the back and carefully side-hugs Gigi before tickling Mavis’ tummy, eliciting another giggle from her. Louis’ heart melts when he sees the grin on Harry’s face.

“Hi,” Louis greets him as well when he’s sure Harry’s attention is on him.

“Hey. Trisha’s samosas. Good choice,” he comments and points to the food on Louis’ plate.

“They’re Zayn’s favourite as well,” Gigi contributes. The beta simply shrugs, face mostly emotionless. “Mum’s amazing.”

“Gordon Ramsay would love her cooking.”

Louis still thinks it’s weird how pack members know basic human celebrities despite living a completely different life. He ponders whether there are any celebrities that maybe have been born a pack member and decided to undergo the opposite procedure Louis went through, from alpha, beta or omega to human. It’s more than unheard of, but it’s possible so Louis doesn’t doubt a few individuals choose the human life. So far though, he doesn’t see good enough reasons to mourn his former human life.

“Difficult meetings today?” Gigi asks Harry and Louis finally finds the time to sneak in a few bites without disrupting the flow of the conversation.

Harry sighs, his face going serious. He shrugs with one shoulder. “You know how it is.”

“With the head of protectors?” Zayn throws in.

Harry nods. “Bobby and Jeff.”

Louis watches the exchange attentively despite not really understanding what they’re talking about. He knows Bobby Horan is the protector who was with Harry when they found him in the streets, so it must be something important if he’s included in the meeting.

“You can always call me if you need me,” Zayn says, his voice insistent as he wraps his arm around Gigi and pulls her closer.

Sighing, Harry casts his eyes downward. “I know. Thank you.” He turns to Louis and sees him finishing the last bites of his meal.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Louis replies after wiping his mouth and chugging the last of his water. He organises the items on the table so that the waitress has little left to do. Pulling out his wallet, he leaves a generous tip because it’s definitely deserved.

When he pushes himself up and says goodbye to the family, Zayn shoots him a funny but curious look.

On the way to Harry’s flat, the alpha asks Louis about his day, his classes, his late lunch at café Malik.

“Zayn almost became pack beta,” Harry speaks up when Louis mentions how he mostly talked to Gigi.

“I know. Niall told me,” Louis replies as they turn into the street of Harry’s flat. He looks to the side to check Harry’s reaction.

“He would’ve done a great job. But I don’t blame him for declining.”

“Liam seems like a good fit as well,” Louis agrees, thinking of all the ways the other alpha has already helped him.

“He is.”

The conversation stops when they arrive at the flat and they climb the stairs. Harry excuses himself to change his clothes but tells Louis to feel at home and treat himself to whatever he wants to drink. Louis pours himself a glass of ginger ale, because isn’t it said to help with nausea?

When Harry steps out of his room, he’s wearing the jogging bottoms that Louis wore the night before yesterday. The fact that they’re currently on Harry’s body suddenly make them ten times more special in Louis’ head, which - how stupid is that even.

They settle on the couch and by now, it’s basically becoming Louis’ second home. Louis waits for Harry to find a comfortable position before clinging to his side. He’s only resting his head on Harry’s shoulder so that talking is still possible.

“Niall also said you’re the second youngest pack alpha in England,” Louis picks up the topic again.

“Yeah,” Harry confirms but doesn’t elaborate.

“Is it hard? Being pack alpha I mean?”

Harry hesitates for a second before sighing. “I’m not going to lie, it can be.” He rolls his head back and slides down the couch a bit, stirring the omega in the process. “It’s… the backstory is a bit complex. My dad left the pack when I was fourteen.”

“Left for where?”

“We don’t know. Human land, presumably. I probably would’ve heard if he had turned up at another pack in the area. But I haven't seen or talked to him since the day he left.”

Louis takes a deep breath in. Originally he came here to get his fix of pheromones to feel better, but hearing about the pack history is definitely interesting as well. Maybe it’ll help him understand some dynamics better. And Harry.

“You didn’t become pack alpha at fourteen though,” Louis states. It’s no question, but the inquiry for further explanation is implied.

“I didn’t,” Harry shakes his head. “I had barely presented as an alpha back then. It’s like my dad waited for my presentation to make sure the Styles alpha bloodline would be ensured,” he huffs. It sounds sarcastic, but there’s also an undertone that may be hurt.

“My mum was devastated. And the worst thing was, all the responsibility fell onto her shoulders as it’s her job as pack omega to name the successor. Which was my step dad,” Harry halts. “Well, not at the time. He used to be a distant family friend. My mum and him got together around two years in.”

So the pack alpha before Harry wasn’t a Styles? Louis wouldn’t have assumed that, but he’s also realising how he’s never heard about the previous pack alpha before, just Harry’s mum.

“He passed away last year.”

Louis pulls an empathetic face. He doesn't know how Harry is handling the topic of death, but showing some sympathy usually isn't a bad approach. “That was when you became pack alpha,” Louis concludes.

“Yeah,” Harry swallows like it pains him to remember that. Silence falls over the living room and Louis shuffles closer in an attempt of.. comforting Harry? Maybe releasing some calming omega pheromones would help Harry but Louis doesn’t know how to do that. Hopefully his natural fragrance has a soothing effect on this alpha no matter what.

Louis almost doesn’t expect Harry to continue when he speaks up again. “I always have to prove the double,” he utters, voice quieter now. “Be careful of my reputation, you know? The pack is amazing, don’t get me wrong. But people are always quick to doubt and judge you when they’re used to a high standard.”

Keeping quiet, Louis encourages Harry to go on. He cautiously places a hand on the outside of his thigh and starts caressing the fabric of the joggers ever so slightly when Harry doesn’t bat his hand away.

“And Rob was amazing. Maybe even better than my dad. Sometimes it feels like I can’t live up to the expectations, like I’m not … experienced enough to fill his gigantic footsteps, you know?”

It’s the most personal insight Louis’ gotten into Harry’s thoughts so far. He doesn’t know Harry’s dad or step dad, but everything that went on with them must’ve coined Harry to a certain extent. Louis doesn’t really know how to react appropriately.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re a wonderful pack leader.”

Harry chuckles and tilts his head so it’s resting on Louis’. “Thanks.”

That night marks the first night Louis feels more than the typical need to be close and smell Harry. No, tonight he starts to feel aroused, with the way Harry’s broad body feels against him. With the way Harry’s sitting open legged on the couch and the way his muscular thighs feel beneath Louis’ fingers. He knows he won’t be sleeping over tonight though, he definitely won’t ask for that again unless Harry offers it first, so he needs to keep his traiterous body in check. The last thing he needs is to get hard, or even worse: slick, in Harry’s proximity.

Louis meets up with Niall after the omega’s afternoon shift at the hospital on Wednesday. They agree on Louis’ flat so he tidies it up the best he can and sets out cold drinks for when he expects Niall to arrive with the take-away. A good five mintues later, his bell rings and Louis buzzes his friend in.

“Heyo,” Niall hugs his friend, the take-away dangling from his hand.

“Hi, c’min.”

They sit down around the table and Louis opens the bottles of beer, placing one next to Niall.

“Sooo,” Niall draws out while unpacking the food he brought.

“So what?”

”How’s it going?”

Louis accepts the burger and fries Niall hands him, eyeing them hungrily. They look and smell just as delicious as the food from his favourite burger place in Doncaster does.

“Good, and you?”

Niall ignores his counterquestion skillfully and continues his interrogation. “And how’s it going with Harry?”

It was only a matter of time until Niall brought this up, but Louis still can’t help but blush.

“Uh, good?” Gone is the confidence in his voice. Niall the little shit knows that mental images are currently running through Louis’ mind and cackles.

“I can imagine,” he teases.

“Change of topic,” Louis demands playfully when Niall’s got his mouth so full of burger he can’t object. They devour their early dinner so quickly it almost hurts their stomaches, both of them having to lean back exhausted and Niall going the extra step of unbuckling his restricting belt, sighing in relief. “My tummy needs to breathe,” he claims and has Louis on the floor laughing.

Unlike at Harry’s, the two omegas leave the dirty dishes and rubbish on the table be. They get comfortable on Louis’ bed. Louis drapes the blanket over his legs while Niall says he’s hot enough for now.

“How.. how is the general opinion on turned humans, what do you think?”

The conversation turns from banter to serious after that, Niall sensing that something is bothering Louis.

“Why are you asking?“

Louis tries to play it down and shrugs. “Just curious.”

Niall musters him sternly, brows knitted. “You’re not. Out with it, Tomlinson, what’s going on?”

Sighing, Louis gives up the pretence. “I’ve repeatedly heard some… critique in class now. And yesterday night in the grocery store.”

“How much do you know about the pack’s history?”

“A bit? Harry mentioned his dad and step dad.” 

Niall winks at Harry’s name and Louis swats his arm, but that’s a talk for another time. He nods though, mentally organising how to go about this.

“When Des - Harry’s dad - left for the human world, some… internal resistance groups formed. Some believed the humans bribed and brainwashed him to flee. Some believed he’s been a traitor all along,” his mouth twists. “What all of them had in common was the belief that humans are the enemies.”

“They thought the humans stole their leader,” Louis comments, to make sure he understands correctly. Niall nods.

“Exactly. Now, it doesn’t get easier when there’s similar movements in the human cities. For different reasons, obviously.”

It’s no news that humans are a bit.. skeptical when it comes to pack life. Louis’ experienced that himself, for all his life really.

“I’m not as informed when it comes to the humans’ restistance, obviously, but yeah,” Niall continues. “From what I’ve heard, certain politicians want to abolish the possibility to turn humans into wolves - like you -, some also want to subjugate packs. Maybe they’re still peeved that they failed to annex Holchap’s land. Doncaster in specific, I mean.”

“That sounds like a tricky situation.” Something… uneasy? spreads in Louis. He’s been aware of the relational tension, but he didn’t know it went back that far.

“It is. Harry’s got his hands full at times.”

Maybe that’s what all these “exhausting” meetings in the pack office are about, what Harry and Liam urgently need to discuss, what Zayn offered to help with. Louis doesn’t know what to think about this, but it seems threatening, scary.

“What about other neighbouring packs?”

“Of Holchap?” Niall questions.

Louis nods. “Like, Holchap’s eastern border is Doncaster, I know that. But are there any other packs around or is it only Barnsley, Rotherham, Worksop?”

“Well let’s see. In the southwest near Rotherham we’ve got the Teasdale pack. As far as I know, they’re faced with the same problematic politics with the humans in Sheffield and area.”

Niall’s eyes move like he’s picturing a map. “Then in the very west near Barnsley there’s the Grimshaw clan.”

“Grimshaw?” Louis interjects. “Like Nick Grimshaw, my teacher?”

Niall points at him in a confirming gesture. “Yup. Nick emigrated from there. We’re not really friends,” he does quotation marks with his hands, ”with them. If you can say it like that. Their politics are very human-centric. Some say their leader is corrupt, but I wouldn’t… you know, say that out loud in public.”

“Understood,” Louis nods and tries to absorb all the information he’s confronted with.

“And then in the north, quite a few miles from here, we’ve got the Miller pack near Pontefract. I don’t think I remember Holchap ever being in contact with them,” he pulls a thinking face.

“The rest is human land? Like, southern from here? And Doncaster obviously?”

“Yeah. Nowadays, land division is very.. human normative? Like, packs claim the ground they need and everything else is claimed by the humans, no matter if they need it or not.”

How is Niall able to explain this all so neutrally? From what Louis gathers, humans are a bit of a prick from their point of view, yet Niall delivers the information like a news reporter. Squinting his eyes, Louis looks at his friend who’s reaching over to grab his bottle of beer.

“What’s your opinion on all this?” Louis tilts his head as he asks.

Niall smiles knowingly. “Mh, I’m probably more impartial than some other pack members. I mean, obviously I’m loyal, but I wasn’t born in Holchap like the big majority.”

That’s news to Louis and his eyebrows rise in surprise. “You weren’t?”

“No,” Niall shakes his head. “My mum’s Irish and I grew up in an Irish pack for the first eight years of my life. When my parents got a divorce, I moved here with my dad. Holchap is his home pack.”

“Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed,” Louis remarks. On a second thought, he adds “No, that’s not true. The first time I met you, I thought you had a bit of an accent.”

Niall laughs before taking a sip of his beverage. “Haven’t heard that in a while. But it does come through occasionally.”

“Do you miss it? The pack in Ireland, I mean?” Louis clarifies.

Taking a moment to ponder, Niall finishes his drink. Louis can’t believe how much he learned in the span of twenty-four hours. Looking back, it’s like he was stumbling through his pack life obliviously.

“Mh, sometimes. But I’ve got my dad here, and my friends. This pack’s become my family, you know?”

_My family,_ Niall’s words echoe in Louis’ head. He hasn’t spoken to the people he left behind in Doncaster for almost a month, apart from the occasional text message exchange with Stan and his sister Lottie. The way Niall says it stresses how important family, be it blood or not, is to him. Should Louis feel guilty for not checking up on them more? The people he grew up with?

The rest of the night is filled with lighter topics, like football and tv series and football again, but the doubts and thoughts never quite leave Louis’ mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm incredibly stressed right now but I hope you're more relaxed than me. Maybe a new chapter will help you calm down after a busy day! :)
> 
> I made a [tumblr](https://greenblueish.tumblr.com) in case anyone wants to hmu. 
> 
> Enjoy reading :)

On Thursday, Louis - despite his own resolutions - texts Harry again, with the main intention to somehow make Harry offer another sleep over. Two days ago he said he wouldn’t, but his body is being an annoying, whiny bitch and it’s just not worth it suffering through. Also, visiting Harry isn’t a hard ship.

**L: Do you happen to be free today? Maybe tonight after dinner?**

Classes are alright, though it feels weird to think that he’s only got one proper day left at the community centre after this. But next week will bring new adventures, like attempting to be a good bookseller, so Louis isn’t all that sad about his integration time coming to an end. The people he calls his friends - Niall, Liam, Harry, maybe Gigi - aren’t in his classes anyway.

Louis’ already on his way home when Harry replies.

**H: I’m not in Holchap. How are you feeling?**

Why is Harry not in Holchap? As far as Louis knows, he hasn’t left the village since Louis moved here. Or has he, and Louis just doesn’t know?

Walking up the stairs to the second floor, Louis almost drops his phone as he tries not to stumble and fall. He decides to postpone answering until he’s safely sitting on his bed.

**L: Oh alright. I’m okay, a bit dizzy but I’ll deal.**

And then, because he’s curious, he shoots Harry another text message before the alpha even reads the first one. He adds an emoji for good measure, and maybe it’ll convince Harry.

**L: Where are you then? If I’m allowed to ask :)**

It takes another hour until Louis’ phone’s screen lights up again, just when he’s finished with dinner and his body is yearning for some nice pheromone supply. The tshirt he nicked is gradually losing Harry’s wonderful scent and it’s downright a tragedy. Two days without forest air filling his lungs and calming his tense muscles.

**H: Call Niall or Liam before it gets too bad. It might not be as effective, but their scent will help to a certain extent.**

**H: This is an order. Do not hesitate to seek help if you need it. I do not want to hear about someone discovering you in the streets unconscious. Understood?**

Louis swallows upon reading this. Text messages don’t have the same effect as an order voiced by an Alpha voice, but Louis still shudders when he imagines Harry commanding. Like he did when Louis was in heat.

**L: Understood.**

Sitting down on his bed, Louis simply stares at the wall. So he won’t be getting scented any time soon. Is Louis in a position to ask how long Harry is going to be gone? Or does that look needy? It bugs Louis that the alpha hasn’t answered his question. He wonders whether this is the first time Harry has left Holchap while Louis has lived there, or whether it happens regularly for whatever pack alpha reasons and Louis simply hasn’t noticed yet because they weren’t that close.

Getting up to make a tea in the hope that it’s going to soothe his nerves and body, Louis almost misses the vibrating of his phone, signaling another message. Usually he’s not a fan of vibrating or, help him lord, noises as message-indicators, but when he’s texting Harry, he short-term changes his settings. For a second Louis thinks he imagines the soft _bzzz_ of his phone against the bed sheets, halting, shaking his head and considering ignoring his hallucinations, but when he reaches for his phone he sees that he indeed received another message from Harry. The tingling in his stomach and cheeks is _so_ uncalled for.

**H: I’m in Doncaster, by the way. I’ll be back by noon, so if you’re still feeling bad in the evening, we can arrange something.**

Harry’s in Doncaster. What’s Harry doing in Doncaster?! Rationally Louis knows that it’s no really big surprise, seeing as Holchap and Doncaster share a border, but somehow that’s still not the answer Louis expected.

**L: Ohh what are you doing in Donny? :)**

Apparently Harry’s still on his phone as he replies just a minute later.

**H: Pack duties. I need to go now. See you tomorrow.**

**L: Okay, have a good night!**

Louis feels slightly stupid typing _have a good night!_ but hits send before he can overthink it. He doesn’t want Harry to think he’s impolite or short with him. That’s certainly the last thing. But what does Harry even mean with pack duties? No doubt that being pack alpha, and by that some sort of politician, comes with responsibilities and certain political gatherings that he’s obligated to go to. But a conference on a Thursday night in human territory? Seems fishy, if you ask Louis. Not that he claims to understand even half of how politics work in Holchap (or Doncaster, to be honest).

Another aspect that has Louis’ mind working on highspeed is the reminder of his old life in Doncaster. His family, his friends, everything really. Guilt about not visiting them creeps up on him and it feels like in those movies where people freeze or turn to stone piece by piece. He really should at least call Lottie or Stan soon. His best friend had sent him a voice mail a couple days ago, but apart from that Louis hasn’t heard their voices in literally four weeks. And the worst thing about it is that he barely realises that in his daily life. He misses them whenever something reminds him of them, like the nail polish section in the supermarket reminds him of sisters, or the kebab place of drunk nights out with Stan and Oli.

So yeah, he’ll probably tackle that in the near future. Maybe he’ll visit them in a week or two, if they’re up to it and Louis’ whiny omega body plays along.

Despite all the emotional ruckus Harry has caused inside him, the last thing on Louis’ mind when he falls asleep that night is the fact that Harry willingly offered a substitute date tomorrow.

Around 3 pm the next afternoon Harry shoots him a message that he’s back in his office, asking how he’s doing and repeating that Louis is free to come over after dinner. For some odd and dumb reason, Louis feels better knowing that Harry is back in Holchap.

Louis climbs the stairs to Harry’s flat around 9 pm and after some small talk Harry gets straight to business, ushering Louis to the well familiar couch before walking back to the kitchen to carry over some drinks and a bowl of peanuts that Louis gladly digs into. While Louis does feel bad and tells Harry so when the alpha checks up once again, it feels more like a lads night than before. Less distant and friendlier, with a little banter once in a while. Louis is happy about that change and from what he can guess, Harry doesn’t mind either.

“Sherlock okay?” Harry questions as he zaps through the channels with his right hand, the left arm slung around Louis to pull him into his side. Pheromones have started spreading the second Harry had sat down next to Louis, and they’re surprisingly… warm. A summer day in the light green woods, sun rays shimmering through the leaves.

“Sure.”

“Really?” Harry repeats with his eyebrows up.

Louis nods against his chest. “Yes, really. I’ve seen them before, but that’s a good episode so it’s fine by me.”

“Alright,” Harry says and puts the remote control down.

“It’s your flat and your tv either way, I’m just the guest,” Louis adds. The third episode of the first season is indeed one of Louis’ favourites, but it’s a good thing he’s seen it before because he closes his eyes about five seconds later. Martin Freeman is a fantastic actor, but that’s not what Louis came for.

Harry seems semi-invested in the plot, with his hand mindlessly travelling over Louis’ upper arm. Pulling his legs closer, Louis shuffles so that his face is pressed to the skin between neck and shoulder. He sighs contently, making Harry turn his head to smile down at him knowingly.

The night processes like that. The BBC series ends and Harry chooses to switch channels and watch the second half of some 80s drama with horrible quality and even worse clothing choices. Louis cares about that even less and only moves twice to snack some more peanuts and drink something when his mouth feels dry.

Despite it being a Friday night, Harry makes a move to go to bed before midnight already, claiming it’s been a stressful few days. Louis simply goes along with it, automatically yawning when Harry does and slowly sitting up to stretch.

“Are you even okay to go to bed right now? Sorry, I didn’t even ask,” Harry wonders as he collects the empty bowl from the couch table.

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis nods. “I’m alright for now, don’t worry.” He’s still sitting, clutching a pillow, mentally not prepared to leave his comfortable spot.

Harry musters him where he’s standing in the middle of the living room, eyes serious. “You can tell me if not.”

After returning his gaze for a couple seconds, Louis focuses on the fabric of the pillow he’s currently stroking. “I really am. It’s been… it’s been a weird up and down lately, but.. yeah, I’m good right now.”

Even if that weren’t the case right now, Louis probably wouldn’t dare to ask Harry to sit down again and scent him some more, especially when the alpha is this tired. He’s done so much for him already, sacrificing a lot of his free time. Louis really hopes Harry isn’t internally annoyed by his constant need for attention and physical contact.

Harry seems to believe him though. Still, he grabs his phone from the table.

“I’m going to forward you Karen’s number. You can call her tomorrow, and ask any questions you have. I’m sure she’ll be happy to answer them.”

Louis blushes as he pats the space around him, looking for his phone that’s somewhere hidden in the blanket. When he finds it, he sees a text message from Harry that’s holding a foreign number.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday though,” Louis interjects. 

“And?”

“I wouldn’t want to bother her on the weekend.”

Harry shakes his head while picking up the glasses they left in the living room. “The Payne’s have been family friends for years, _decades_. Her son’s pack beta. She won’t mind.”

“If you’re sure,” Louis says and stands up, following Harry to the kitchen after folding the blanket and putting it neatly on the couch.

The only thing that’s different tonight is that Louis is able to convince Harry to let him sleep in the guest room and not take up Harry’s bed (meaning he races to that room and throws himself onto the guest bed before Harry has a chance to contradict). The guest room is very multifunctional, serving as a home office, storage room and well, guest room. It’s still cosy, the desk sitting beneath the window tidied up but decorated with three little cacti, and a painting adorning the walll above the bed.

Harry comes to check up on him after they’ve both used the bathroom and changed clothes. He softly knocks on the ajar door and only enters when Louis allows him to. The alpha is looking unbelievably good how he’s leaning against the door frame in grey joggers and a loose white shirt. Louis catches himself before he’s staring too long.

“Here…” he says and scrambles up. “I brought your shirt. Freshly washed.”

Pulling it from his duffle bag, he smoothes the wrinkles before handing it to Harry.

“Thanks.” Harry looks down to the piece of clothing before turning around and vanishing without another word. Stunned, Louis ponders whether he did something wrong, before shuffling can be heard from Harry’s room and the alpha returns not a minute later.

Louis’ sitting on the guest bed with crossed legs when Harry approaches him, still keeping a bit of distance.

“I just did a round of laundry before you came over, so I don’t have any clothes besides what I wore today, and I’m pretty sure my shirt has at least three tomate sauce stains,” he explains as he gently puts down a wrinkly pillowcase next to Louis.

“If you don’t need it, just put it on the desk, it’s no problem. I changed my bed sheets as well, but haven’t gotten around to washing them yet, so this is my pillowcase. Yeah,” Harry rambles while Louis stays quiet.

When Louis is sure Harry is done talking, he makes sure the alpha is watching him so he sees how genuinely Louis smiles, appreciating the sweet gesture.

“Thank you, Harry. Really. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

Harry smiles back, though without showing teeth. It makes his dimples pop. “It’s no problem.”

Silence falls over them before Harry moves again and gestures to the door. “I’m off to bed. Wake me up if something’s wrong.”

“Alright,” Louis nods. “Good night.”

“Good night, Louis.”

Louis stays frozen until he can hear the door to Harry’s bedroom being closed, then he finally dares to cautiously touch the pillowcase resting next to him, like it’s some precious treasure. It sort of is, considering the intense smell it holds. Some may think sniffing someone’s pillowcase that’s meant to be washed is disgusting, but Louis can’t find it in him to care right now.

The piece of fabric isn’t a shirt and therefore he can’t wear it on his body, which is tragic, but on the other hand Harry had slept on this for a good ten days probably. Well, Louis did twice. It’s still the same bed sheets from when he last slept over. Logically, the material holds a stronger fragrance than a shirt Harry had just worn for the day. In conclusion, Louis isn’t complaining.

Carefully settling beneath the blanket, Louis considers putting the pillowcase on the pillow before deciding against it. He’ll just cuddle with it like this.

Which, yeah, cuddling. Innocent cuddling only. Nothing more.

Louis’ body is not on board with that plan, as it seems. After switching off the head light and finding a comfortable position, he buries his face in the pillowcase and _breathes_. Once, twice, thrice. Flushes of pheromones fill his lungs and hallelujah.

His brain goes fuzzy, his tummy tingling and yup, his dick is interested as well. Traiterous body. Rationally, Louis knows he shouldn’t keep sniffing the fabric, shouldn’t risk getting so aroused that he’ll want to get himself off, will need to get off to sleep comfortably. But it feels _so_ good, it’s unfair.

It’s also kind of ridiculous how a simple smell can set him off like this, with the person belonging to it not even in the room. His omega must be pathetically gagging for it.

And no, he shouldn’t even entertain the option of continuing for a second because how wrong would it be to have a wank in Harry’s freaking guest bed? Very, very wrong is the answer. You don’t jerk off in other people’s beds, unless it’s with them. That’s an unspoken rule and no matter how desperate you are, you don’t break it. Louis just needs to get a grip.

He takes one last breath before flopping onto his back and sighing. His cock is semi-hard and straining against the pyjama bottoms he brought. Great.

At least he’s getting hard now and not whilst being cuddled up to Harry, like last time. That’d be even more embarrassing. Especially because he’s not sure how advanced Harry’s sense of smell is and whether he can smell Louis’ arousal when he’s being scented. Thinking about it, Harry could probably tell if Louis were to get off in his bed, so he wills his boner to go down and prays for sleep to envelop him quickly.

He dreams of cuddling (innocent cuddling only, he swears!) Harry that night, but he can’t even recall the location when he wakes up the next morning because he was so focused on the alpha and his strong arms around him. Louis yearns for more physical contact in real life as well, but he definitely won’t ask Harry to sandwich him between the couch and Harry’s body.

Louis’ just finished his business and is about to wash his hands when a noise surprises him. It’s the doorbell, his sleepy brain figures out a second later. Who the hell is ringing Harry’s bell at 9 on a Saturday morning? Louis looks like shit! He’s not even dressed!

For a short minute Louis seriously considers holing up in the bathroom until Harry’s guest or guests are gone. That’s obviously nonsense because as far as Louis knows, Harry still needs to freshen up in the bathroom as well and he’ll probably want to do that in case the visitor decides to stay for a while. The female voice echoing through the hallway when Harry opens the flat door supports that hypothesis. She doesn’t sound like she’s a neighbour picking up a package.

Louis can’t understand most of what Harry and the unknown woman say, though she sounds older than Harry so Louis’ first guess is his mum. When he’s sure they have both moved past the bathroom door to the kitchen, Louis dares to silently unlock the door and sneak out.

Two steps from the door to the guest room, Harry’s voice surprises him.

“Louis?”

The omega freezes in his movements. “Yeah?”

He turns his head to find Harry standing in the kitchen door frame, still in his sleep wear as well and a kind smile on his face.

“Come, I’d like to introduce you to my mum.” He gestures for him to join them in the kitchen.

Reluctantly, Louis’ feet carry him to the kitchen and Harry loosely guides an arm around his back to usher him further into the room. A brunette middle-aged woman is standing close to the counter, about to pour some water into Harry’s coffee machine. She smiles brightly when she sees Louis enter the kitchen.

“Louis, this is my mum.”

“Morning,” Louis mumbles and blushes. He’s still in his pyjamas, hair sticking up wildly and _oh god_ , this is the mum of the man who Louis got hard thinking about last night.

“Good morning, dear! I’m Anne, nice to meet you,” she greets him.

Louis’ eyes sway between Harry and Anne, unsure which person is more awkward to look at right now. “You too. I’m sorry, I’m not looking very presentable right now,” he says and gestures to his clothes.

“Oh don’t worry. You couldn’t have known about my surprise visit!”

“I didn’t either,” Harry contributes and opens the cupboard. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please,” Louis nods.

“Oh, I brought freshly baked pastries!” Anne points to the paper bag sitting on the counter. “I hope you like croissants.”

“I do.”

After laying the table, Harry excuses himself to freshen up in the bathroom and get dressed, leaving Louis alone with his mum. Although she seems friendly enough, Louis can’t help but feel awkward. She knows he slept over at her son’s place after all. What does she even think is the deal with the two of them? Does she think they’re dating, or worse - hooking up?

Fumbling with the edge of his sleep shirt, Louis is suddenly torn from his thoughts when Anne speaks up.

“No need to look so frightened, dear. I’m aware of your situation,” she smiles reassuringly.

Not knowing how to reply, Louis simply smiles back. His bare feet are getting cold, but he’s been so distracted that he didn’t even notice until now.

“I just hope you’re settling in well,” Anne adds.

“I am. Harry… Harry’s a big help. Liam and Niall as well.” Before they can dive futher into that topic, Louis points over his shoulder. “I’m getting a bit chilly, so I’ll be changing real quick.”

Breakfast is easier than Louis expected, especially because Harry and his mum carry the better part of the conversation. The pastries Anne brought are delicious and Louis tells her so, earning a content grin.

She ends up leaving quite fast, claiming she has some more errands to run. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t and just wants to grant the two boys some privacy, Louis doesn’t know. Either way, Louis thanks her for the free food and Anne wishes him a good start at the bookshop.

“Your mum’s nice,” Louis says when Harry and him are alone in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess they left.

“She is. I’m glad to have her. She’s the only family I have here in Holchap, besides my uncle and cousin.”

“If this is insensitive, tell me, but… did she just become jobless when you took over as pack alpha?”

Instead of taking it badly, Harry chuckles.

“Mh, not really. She was pack omega with both dad and Rob, but now she’s more of a stand in. Until I find myself an omega, that is.”

The mention of Harry being in a relationship with an omega has Louis’ cheeks burning. He’s totally not imagining himself in that position. Would that even work, with him being a former human? Him having to ask about these kind of things probably already answers the question.

“So she’s working at the pack office?”

Harry shakes his head as he dries the dishes. “She’s working at the kindergarten and only helps out whenever I specifically need her opinion as an omega or on occasions where her presence is formally required.”

“Makes sense.”

They carry on cleaning and tidying the kitchen until everything is squeaky clean. At this point Louis has gone through this procedure quite a few times and knows where most of the dishes go. It feels a bit like a triumph.

“How are you feeling this morning? I don’t have the impression that it’s particularly bad today?”

Harry phrases it like a question, still giving Louis an opportunity to say _No, your impression was wrong, I’m feeling horrible,_ but that wouldn’t be the truth, and as much as Louis wants to be scented some more, he’s no liar.

“Yeah, no, I’m surprisingly okay? I… I think your pillowcase helped, to be honest. Great idea.”

“I’m glad it helped,” Harry smiles. “But still, don’t be shy to call Karen even if you feel better. She’ll answer any questions you have.”

In that moment, Louis nods instead of answering verbally, but Harry’s suggestion doesn’t leave his mind for the rest of the day, so later that afternoon, Louis caves in and calls Karen Payne. She answers on the second ring and reassures him that it’s absolutely fine and she’s always willing to help Harry’s and Liam’s friends. When he describes how his physical state has been ranging from pretty much fine to very need for Harry’s pheromonal help, she isn’t surprised.

“It’s good that there’s an improvement, but it’ll probably stay like that until your next heat. Do you know when that is, roughly?”

And yes, Louis knows that pretty well as he’s taking heat regulators. It’s scheduled four weeks from now. Four long weeks of begging Harry to let him stick his nose into his neck. He doesn’t know whether that’s a bad or good prospect.

Louis starts working on Monday. He makes sure to be up extra early, a coffee intus so he’s not too tired on his first day. The walk to Mulligan books is too short and too long for his liking at the same time, which is mostly because he’s nervous.

His worries turn out completely unreasonable though, because Ed is still the welcoming and friendly character when Louis enters the shop. They go through the stacks of paperwork Louis was to fill out together to make sure everything is filled in correctly, only interrupted by a customer once because there’s not too many people shopping for books at 8.30 am on a Monday.

“I think we’re done here,” Ed says and hands Louis is copy of the documents. “Welcome to the team, officially now!”

“Thanks,” Louis beams. He has a feeling this is going to be a fun job and that’s very important to him. Sure, making a lot of money is nice, but not when you’ve got a stomach ache on your way to work every morning.

Ed shows him around the sections of the store, explaining how the shelves are organised and how they choose books for recommendations.

“I obviously can’t force you to read a book every now and then, but it probably helps with customer service,” Ed shrugs. “Plus, you can write these little papers on your favourite books that we stick onto the shelves.”

“That sounds cool.” It really does. For some reason, Louis feels strangely inspired to randomly select a few books and read them at home. Back in school he was never a big fan of writing book reviews or summaries, but he knows whatever he produces now won’t be graded or judged. It’s like he’ll leave a little trail, some foot prints in this bookstore, the idea of people reading books he recommended to them makes him a teeny bit proud. Louis would’ve never thought he’d be thinking this like three months back.

As it turns out, Monday mornings are always relatively quiet and Ed has taken up the habit on fucking around on his guitar, sitting on the counter.

“Passenger?” Louis recognises the song Ed is currently tapping. The other man hums in confirmation.

“Pretty basic, I know. Any requests?”

Louis meets up with Harry on Monday evening for about two hours and then again on Wednesday directly after work, when the pack alpha tells Louis that Liam’s gone into rut and won’t be available for the next two days. Louis doesn’t even raise an eyebrow when he realises that Niall hasn’t answered his texts since yesterday night, which is highly unusual for the other omega. He’s not working _that_ long shifts.

And then on Thursday night, the inevitable happens. After having a quiet evening in, with a new book by some Japanese author he blindly picked from the hit section of the bookstore, Louis lies in bed and he’s just so turned on. So Thursday night is the first night Louis gets off to the thought of Harry. To a certain extent, it feels wrong, thinking of someone whose consent Louis doesn’t have. But his hard dick isn’t waiting for consent or anything to happen between them. It wants some action and it wants it now.

Louis is a weak man and indulges himself after a couple more minutes of suffering and willing his boner to go down. Sometimes you just need to accept that some things aren’t going to happen.

Harry’s smell is the first thing Louis’ aroused mind conjures up. The fresh smell of the first blossoming plants in the woods, the transition of a cold and still winter to a dynamic and alive spring. No wonder they call it spring fever - that’s exactly what Louis feels like right now. His body is on fire and he strips off his pyjama bottoms. He’ll probably need a shower or at least a thorough washing afterwards anyway.

Harry’s big hands, Harry’s strong arms, Harry’s broad shoulders. Harry’s character - does that count? Louis decides it does, because attentiveness is _so_ sexy. The memory of Harry checking in on him via text and asking both on Monday and Wednesday how he’s liking his job so far. All that definitely contributes to Harry’s overall physical sex appeal.

Louis’ cock is already fully hard by the time his closed fist is moving up and down rhythmically, causing his toes to curl in pleasure despite the rather dry slide. He doesn’t even imagine Harry jacking him off, no, just the mental image of Harry in general is enough to have Louis gasping in arousal.

What Louis almost forgets about is the slick that comes with being an omega. It facilitates things, sure, as it practically makes lube needless. But it also feels weird to not be dependent on lube, as he has all his life so far.

He’s been through this during his last heat, but this is the first time Louis’ confronted with slick while being fully conscious. When he sneaks a hand around to cautiously touch his hole, he instantly realises just how different the sensation is. It definitely didn’t feel this … intense when he was still a human.

With one finger pressing ever so slightly against his hole and the other hand keeping up the relentless jerking, it’s a matter of minutes until Louis is coming, Harry still on his mind but -thankfully- not on his lips. The neighbours don’t need to hear everything. Though he’s pretty sure the omega girl living to his right - Louis’ met her in the hallway thrice by now - is hooking up with some guy that makes some rather questionable noises in bed.

The orgasm is good, great even, but Louis can’t help but think how much better it could be with someone else. Someone who knows his way around omega bodies, preferably. The only logical follow-up thought Louis has is: Does Harry have any experience with bedding omegas? He must have. Either way, he’s probably gone through loads and loads of omega based education in school and whatever further stuff he needs to learn as pack alpha, so it’s pretty safe to say he’d know what he’d be doing better than Louis does right now.

Well, Louis silently thinks he wouldn’t mind testing that theory. That’s how for he’s come already.

Louis falls into an easy routine with working Monday-Friday, because Ed’s brother does Saturdays for now, and seeing Harry every other night or whenever they can make it work. He doesn’t sleep over anymore because Harry is up early for work as well, and it’d just be inconvenient. Maybe they also do it so the town gossips don’t talk, Louis doesn’t know. Watching movies and cooking together and once also playing Scrabble is fine by Louis though, at least for now. All the time spent together in regular intervalls is really helping his dizziness and overall feeling unwell to everyone’s joy.

Harry’s rut is something Louis has spared none to little (more like little, to be honest) thought, but when Harry brings up the topic on Sunday and says it’s due on Wednesday, everything makes sense. Louis has thought that the alpha had smelled increasingly more potent, but he originally waved it off as just being focused on Harry’s scent, with him being his attachment figure and all.

Now that he’s aware of the fast approaching rut though, he feels more and more restless. The mental images that come with someone talking about their cycles are inevitable. Harry mentions it seriously, but mostly to make sure Louis knows he won’t be available for scenting sessions. Apart from that, Harry seems pretty nonchalant about it, having gone through them for years.

Staying in his little flat in Holchap and knowing Harry is rutting against the bed (because that’s what ruts are about, aren’t they?) to get off seems like torture to Louis, so he agrees to play footie with Niall and the same lads he’s met before on Wednesday and distracts himself by visiting his family in Doncaster for the first time in nearly six weeks on Thursday.

The decision process there is difficult, but once he brings up his potential plans around Ed the man basically forced him to take the afternoon off and go see them.

“Family is important,” Ed says. “I don’t mind working that afternoon shift.”

“Are you sure?”

Ed nods and grins. “Yes. I’ll just make you work a Saturday morning as a compensation.”

So that’s how Louis finds himself sitting in his Dad’s living room. His dad’s new wife as well as his sisters are gathered around him and already digging into the cake Louis had picked up on his way. Lottie brought her boyfriend who’s sitting across from Louis and keeps shooting him weird looks, like he’s intimated by him, but he couldn’t care less. He’s not here to make friends with his sister’s boyfriend right now.

Everyone asks him how he’s been doing, what his flat is like and how he’s liking his job. Louis answers all these questions - but leaves out everything pack related. His dad had taken him aside when he’d first entered the house, asking him to “leave his siblings out of this whole life style.”

Obviously the older girls know where he’s suddenly vanished to anyway, but it still twinges to hear his dad voice it so clearly. He’s accepted here, but his decision to move to Holchap and join Harry’s pack isn’t really.

Louis would be lying if he said he doesn’t enjoy catching up with his family because he does, but he’s still happy to be on the second to last bus back to Holchap that night.

The next Wednesday, Liam, Niall, Harry and Louis finally find the time to meet up without one of them having a night shift (usually Niall) or either of them having to get up too early the next morning (Liam, Harry and Louis, depending on Ed’s work schedule). Liam generously offers his flat as the location and says he’ll provide dinner as well, though Harry tells Louis that’s bullshit. It’ll probably be Niall’s food he’s selling as his own because Liam can’t cook for shit.

After Liam’s (Niall’s) spicy but yummy chili sin carne the four of them settle on Liam’s enormous couch, crisps and chocolate on the table Niall’s currently resting his feet on. Louis considers following him suit but he sort of gets the impression that Niall has special rights here - or he simply takes them, who knows. Niall’s and Liam’s banter is noticeable though and Louis once again remembers that he’s been wanting to ask Harry (or maybe Niall himself) about it all along.

Harry seems to be watching the two men as well and him and Louis exchange knowing glances with a grin on their face when Liam tickles Niall for the second time to recapture the bowl of crisps Niall’s been hogging.

“Another round of fifa?” Liam suggests and holds up a controller.

“God no,” Harry says as he reaches for his glass.

“What do you propose then? Movie?”

When everyone agrees, Liam throws in a DVD (like in the middleages) and Louis is surprised to see that the movie’s playing in a pack, with both characters and actors being pack members. It’s quite refreshing.

Liam turns off the light and the tv flickering is the only thing illuminating the room. Usually Louis doesn’t like that, always keeps on at least his bedside lamp. He won’t complain though - this is fine. This way, certain … movements will go unnoticed. Like Louis working on his mission to cuddle up to Harry by slowly shifting closer inch by inch.

Harry has one foot steady on the carpet, one leg pulled up on the couch, both arms resting to his sides. It’s not ideal to cuddle up to, arms spread on the backrest would be better, but Louis will manage. He doesn’t even know why that idea is so resistent in his mind, but it’s not like Harry and Louis have never sat close while watching telly.

“She’s gonna go into heat,” Niall mumbles with his mouth full of crisps. When Louis looks over to the other omega, he finds that Niall has his feet on Liam’s lap, who seemingly doesn’t mind. Louis can’t help the grin spreading on his face.

“Shh, stop the spoilers,” Liam shushes him and squeezes his shin.

“Have you seen the movie already, Niall?” Louis wonders because the plot isn’t that foreseeable to him.

“Nah, but it’s obvious. Max’ head almost snapped when she entered the room. And her best friend mentioned her missing the last game and the coach said that was back in February.”

Louis’ eyebrows rise in surprise how much Niall can read from the movie’s context. He wants to achieve that too.

About half way into the movie, Louis accomplishes mission _lean on Harry’s shoulder_. The alpha most likely notices Louis’ inching closer but doesn’t comment on it and just lets him do. Harry’s shoulder is firm thanks to his muscles and Louis pulls his legs to his body to fully rest his head on Harry.

Unfortunately, Louis isn’t allowed to enjoy the physical proximity for long as Harry gets a call just a couple minutes later. Harry’s one of the only people around Louis’ age to has his phone unmuted, but that’s understandable as either he or Liam basically have to be reachable at any time. Or maybe protectors take over at night.

“Yeah?” Harry sits up, jolting Louis. The tv is muted as soon as Liam notices Harry’s answering a call.

“At Liam’s… No, it’s fine… What? Where are you?…” Louis can’t tell who’s on the line or whatever that faceless person is saying, but it doesn’t sound like good news judging from the way Harry’s tensing up. Niall and Liam watch him observantly as well.

Harry groans and runs a hand over his face. “Ugh. Yeah… What did they say?…. Was he there?… No, no… Alright, yeah… Thanks for calling me, Zee. Yeah, I’ll call you tomorrw. Say hi to Gigi and Mave. Bye.”

“Zayn?”

“Yeah,” Harry confirms as he locks his phone’s screen. “He called me because Cowell’s on it again.”

According to both Niall’s and Liam’s reaction, that Cowell person is a well-known trouble maker.

“What’s he done this time?” Liam asks.

“They’re holding a _discussion night_ at his pub again,” Harry makes quotation marks with his hands. “It was only a matter of time after I went to Doncaster. He’s actually kind of late, I guess.”

Niall huffs. “He’s getting on my nerves, that’s what he is.”

“Sorry for cutting in, but who’s this Cowell?” Louis speaks up when he sees the opportunity without interrupting anyone.

“Simon Cowell,” Harry explains. “Him and Ben Winston are… not particularly content with local politics. Neither ours nor Doncaster’s. They feel suppressed by the humans’ devaluing demands to stop transitions - both ways, really.”

Niall continues in an annoyed tone. “They claim to want a partition from Doncaster, but what they really want is to overthrow Harry and rebuild and expand Holchap after their interests.”

“Niall,” Liam shoots him a warning look. He turns to Louis. “That’s a tad exaggerated, but you get the gist. They, but especially Cowell, criticise the way Harry negotiates with Doncaster’s head politicians. Cowell owns a pub and what better way is there to influence impartial pack members than to invite them to nice debate evening with alcohol?”

“I can handle constructive negative feedback from the pack, but some of Cowell’s visions… They’re dangerous,” Harry takes over again. The mood in the room has changed drastically through Zayn’s update call. It underlines Zayn’s loyalty though, him informing the pack alpha about what’s happening in his pack.

“So is Zayn there or how does he know?” Louis sits cross-legged to face his friends.

Harry shakes his head. “Cowell’s pub is in the same street as Zayn’s parents café is. Zayn helped them lock up today and passed the pub when he walked home.”

Instead of asking further questions, Louis nods in understanding. Saying _that’s a tricky situation_ seems stupid and tonights incident will probably be addressed in the pack office today, so asking what’s going to happen is useless as well. Liam and Harry talk about who they’ll get into a conference when tomorrow before the four of them decide to continue the movie where they stopped.

Both Liam and especially Harry can’t relax for the remainder of the night though. When the movie is finished, they don’t start another one but help Liam tidy up, thanking him for everything. To no one’s surprise, Niall announces that he’ll be sleeping over, so it’s only Harry and Louis going home.Not knowing where the night would be going, Louis had already taken his heat regulators before walking to Liam’s but it’s pretty clear that he won’t be invited to Harry’s flat tonight.

“I’ll walk you home,” Harry says as soon as they’re outside.

“That’s a detour though.”

“I don’t mind.“

Louis suspects that the midnight walk is indeed something Harry needs right now to get his head as pack alpha sorted, so he doesn’t object.

On Friday, Louis is scheduled for the morning shift at the bookstore after he did afternoon shift on Thursday, for the first time completely alone and responsible for locking up. It had all gone well, though, so Louis is in a good mood as he’s walking downstairs to check his mail box. He’ll have something positive to report to Ed, because he’s sure the other man will be in as well today.

Niall regularly makes fun of Louis for checking his mail box on his way out, claiming it’s much more logical to only do it when going up to your flat. Louis doesn’t care though, he’s curious enough to check whether he’s got mail whenever he passes.

Fumbling for the key, Louis searches for his name before unlocking the mail box. He’s lucky that it’s neither too high nor too low, both would be annoying.

There’s nothing there, no letters from the citizen office or bills and Louis almost closes the door when he notices the white piece of paper resting at the bottom. Confused, he reaches in to pull it out. It’s a regular paper ripped from a notepad with one line written across it, in Times New Roman print so there’s no handwriting to recognise.

**_Keep your human scum friends in check, foreigner_ **

Holding that piece of paper in his hand, Louis is stunned into silence. Has he just received a _threat_ via mail? Who would even send him that? He has barely spoken to anyone outside his classes and new friend squad, and no one had reacted badly about his origin yet. Emphasising the yet, because apparently someone isn’t quite happy with Holchap’s human neighbours.

Louis can hear footsteps from the staircase, tearing him from his thoughts and making him lock his mailbox again. A middle aged alpha woman passes him as he hastily folds the paper and stuffs it into his jacket’s pocket. She smiles kindly as she makes her way outside and Louis attempts to force a smile in return, but his mind is running on double speed.

What the hell is he supposed to do now? Report the incident? Ignore it and carry on with his life? He’s scared that there’s more to it, that he’ll be threatened again even though the line doesn’t necessarily imply physical harm to him. It’s rather a critique towards the humans. Right?

The whole way to the bookstore, Louis is barely perceiving his environment. Aside from the obvious shock that comes with receiving such a message hurt spreads inside him. Hurt, because some people see his connections to Doncaster rather than his new sense of belonging to Holchap, while Louis himself had started to think of himself as a part of the pack.

It’s impossible to get it out of his mind during work as well, no matter how much he tries to focus on writing a new recommendation about the book he’s just finished last night. In the end, he has to rewrite it four times because he always messes it up somehow.

Ed is once again sitting on the counter, strumming and humming what sounds like Yesterday by the Beatles. Louis is always proud when he recognises the songs Ed is playing.

Louis is just about to register and put away the newly delivered books, magazines and board games when the bell above the door rings and signals the entrance of a customer. Immeaditely, Louis turns towards the older lady and offers his help with a friendly smile. She’s looking to buy a book “about dogs or computer games” as these are her grandson’s hobbies and it’s meant to be a birthday present. Her sixteen year old grandson is probably not the main audience for any of the books that come to Louis’ mind that second so he asks Ed for help.

The beta improvises and eventually finds a book that fits at least the computer games criterion, but Louis can’t help but feel like the old lady is watching him warily, like she’s recognising Louis and it’s making her visibly uncomfortable. Louis’ never seen her in his entire life though, he’s sure, so he tries to convince himself that he’s imagining it.

Attempting his best to smile through it and stay standard-friendly, Louis mostly stays back and returns to storing away new goods until the lady has payed and received her neatly wrapped up book.

Fortunately, she leaves quickly after that and the store is empty again, allowing Louis to take a relieved breath and make his way to the backroom. Thank god for the coffee machine there.

“What’s up with you?” Ed eyes his mug when he closes the door after him and puts down the coffee on the counter.

Louis blows on it, unable to drink it despite the milk cooling down the beverage.

“Why?”

Ed nods towards the coffee. “That’s your second cup, and it’s not even,” a quick glance to his wrist watch, “10 o’clock. That’s a new record.”

Louis sighs and takes a sip that burns the tip of his tongue and the back of his mouth. For a second he considers lying and claiming he hasn’t slept well, but decides against it. Ed is trustworthy and his friend, and he could use someone to talk to.

“How… in your opinion, have former turned humans gotten accepted easily here?”

Mustering Louis, Ed puts down both hands on the counter. “Who do I need to beat up?”

There’s a hint of a joke lacing his voice before he turns serious, sighing too. “It was easier when Des was still pack alpha.”

“You think so? Why?”

Ed shrugs. “Des was a very welcoming, accepting pack alpha. Pretty much everyone loved him.” He falters for a second. “Don’t get me wrong - Rob was great as well. He just had it harder after everything that happened with Des.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Louis nods and hopes Ed will elaborate further. The beta doesn’t go down the history road though.

“There is a small support group of transformed members, have you heard of them? They don’t mind sharing their experiences and apparently it does help if support groups are your thing. But I don’t know anyone who’s participated in one.”

Louis hasn’t heard about the support group in particular, but it’s probably similar to the psychological help Liam proposed. It most likely takes place at the community centre as well.

“To be honest though? From what I’ve heard, must turned humans want to forget about big parts of their human lives.”

And yeah, somehow Louis isn’t a stranger to that feeling.

“Not that pack life is better than life in human cities!” Ed hurries to add, not wanting to leave a wrong impression. “It’s just - everyone who comes here does it for a reason.”

“I get it, don’t worry,” Louis smiles tight-lipped. He’s not offended by what Ed says, he’s only trying to help. “I’m kinda like that as well.”

Silence washes over them until another customer enters the shop and Ed converses with the man who’s a friend of his girlfriend’s dad. Holchap is a small world, if one can say it like that. Louis doesn’t mind the distraction and the opportunity to enjoy his coffee. The man stays a good fifteen minutes before leaving with a newspaper and Ed’s promise to drink a pint together at his girlfriend’s dad’s birthday party later that month. Ed’s good at this, making people feel comfortable around him.

“So, what else is up?” the beta surprisingly returns to their earlier conversation. “Has anything happened or why did you ask before?”

Louis hesitates. “Kind of.”

“Define _kind of_.”

Rather than answering, Louis walks to the backroom to snatch the piece of paper from his jacket’s pocket. Back behind the counter, he unfolds it and hands it over.

“What’s this?” Ed inquires, body language tense and serious.

“That was in my mailbox this morning.”

Staring at it, Ed’s mouth is slightly parted and his eyebrows deeply furrowed. He looks just as shocked as Louis did when he saw it the first time around.

“Wow, I… I’m sorry Louis.” Worried eyes scan over Louis’ face. “Does Harry know about this?”

Louis shakes his head. “No. It only happened this morning and I… I didn’t want to worry Harry with that. It’s probably nothing anyway… right?”

Ed looks down to the paper once again before folding it and handing it back. “You need to tell him.”

Sighing, Louis accepts the unwelcome mail and stuffs it back into his jacket. In a quiet voice he mumbles “I’m already asking for so much.”

“The scenting?”

At the mention of Harry’s scent, Louis peeks up. How does Ed know about that? The girls in his class noticed it, yes, but Harry and Louis have toned it down since then, with Louis barely sleeping over anymore. “Is it that obvious?”

Ed pulls a face, trying to figure out what the right answer is to this. “I mean, yeah?”

The rest of the day passes neither fast nor slow. A big weight has been lifted from Louis’ shoulders now that Ed knows about what happened, only to feel like it’s been dropped right back when he arrives at home. He doesn’t feel unsafe per se, but it’s just… a strange feeling. Louis’ never been seriously threatened in his life before. No one he knows has. Well, maybe his lower sixth teacher when she made them take an outragerously hard chemistry exam but even though sixteen year olds aren’t to be underestimated, Louis doesn’t think anyone was serious about getting her kicked out.

One of the best things about working in a bookstore is that Louis is literally at the source of whatever his heart desires to read. He snatched a promising hard cover from the bestseller section that he’s been ogling all week. Though when he puts it on the nightstand after returning to his flat, Louis can’t find the motivation to start it right away. Instead he heats up some late-lunch slash early dinner and settles beneath the covers. When he finds a comfortable position he distracts himself with Netflix original series until he falls alseep. He wishes Harry would be hear to calm him down with some pheromone boost.

Louis’ wish is becoming true earlier than he’d expected. More or less, at least. He’s busy vacuuming his floor when he thinks he’s hearing his door bell. It’s quiet when he turns off the vacuum cleaner and Louis almost thinks he’s hallucinated it when the familiar noise sounds again.

Who would visit him on a Saturday morning? No one besides Niall probably, but Louis’ pretty sure the other omega mentioned being on heat leave, so it most likely isn’t him.

Nonetheless, he buzzes in whoever is molesting him this early. Opening the door he surprisingly finds an annoyed looking Harry approaching him.

“Harry?”

“Can I come in?” the pack alpha urges.

“Uh sure.” Louis opens the door for him to come in. “How can I … help you?”

“Show me the paper that was in your mail box.” It’s not Harry’s alpha voice, but his tone makes it clear that this is not up for discussion. Louis gulps and obeys immediately, rummaging through his jacket before holding the paper for Harry to take it.

The pack alpha examines it precisely before staring at Louis sternly. “Why did Ed inform me about this?”

Louis looks to his feet awkwardly where he’s standing in the middle of the room. “I didn’t want to bother you with more problems.”

“You’re not _bothering_ me! I’m worried about you!” And okay, Harry is seriously mad about this. It’s stupid, but it makes Louis feel… special somehow?

“It's my job as a pack alpha to worry and care about each and every member, and you’re no exception to that just because you’ve needed my help before.”

Well, there it is. Louis isn’t special and there’s no need to believe he means more to Harry than the average pack member. It’s his _job_ , he literally said it himself. He’d be a horrible pack alpha if he didn’t.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Louis switches the foot he’s standing on. “It’s fine, nothing has happened. It’s not against me specifically, but more against the humans,” he tries to play it cool.

“You used to be a human though,” Harry objects, shaking his head in exasperation, gesturing to support his point. His face softens when he sees how disturbed and sad the omega looks at that reminder.

“I’m sorry for barging in on you like this. But I’m not liking this at all. We need to keep an eye on this and whoever sent that message.”

“I understand that,” Louis replies, voice barely more than a whisper. This is definitely not how he imagined his weekend morning would go. “Do you have an idea who it was? Simon Cowell or whatever his name was?”

Harry’s jaw tenses as he glanced around the room. “Liam and I have our.. suspicions yeah.” So Liam already knows about this as well. It’s no surprise, he’s pack beta after all.

“But this needs to stay between us for now, alright? I don’t want this to go public and cause uproar before we know who it is.”

“Alright.”

It seems like everything urgent is said with that, or at least Harry doesn’t say anything else. Their short but intense interaction has come with negative vibes and Louis feels his body react to it. He’s never been too sensitive as a human, but that’s apparently changed with his transformation. He shuffles around uneasily, yearning for a cup of his favourite tea along with a thick blanket wrapped around him, maybe with an alpha right next to him. Luckily, there’s one right across from him, no more than five feet away.

Harry’s already looking at him intently when Louis dares to speak up. “Can you maybe scent me?”

“Of course,” Harry agrees, already unzipping his jacket to hang it next to Louis’ at the back of the door.

Unlike last time, they don’t hug awkwardly in the middle of the room. This time, Harry guides Louis over to the bed and tells him to get comfortable as he unties his shoes.

“Is it okay if I sit on your bed in my outside clothes?” he checks before lowering himself. Louis wants to say no just to see what would happen but doesn’t. He’d rather be scented by Harry in stiff jeans than not at all.

They’re both aware of this being their first scenting session taking place in a real bed. Not standing, not leaning against Harry’s kitchen counter or cuddling on the couch. If Louis were distressed, pregnant or in a long-term relationship (or whatever other reasons they taught him about in the omega class at the community centre) he’d maybe be building a nest in his bed. He has yet to do that, slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of that because how the fuck does that work? Either way, he really appreciates Harry asking despite no nest being visible.

“Can we lie down or would you rather not?”

“No, we can lie down.”

Louis inches down the bed until he’s horizontal, Harry following him suit. Everyone says it’s a sign you’re a proper adult when your bed doesn’t border on a wall and according to that Louis is not a grown up yet. He’s squished between the wall and Harry and he wouldn’t have it any other way because it makes him feel so incredibly safe.

Louis has to refrain from making grabby hands but Harry knows what he wants anyway. Within seconds he’s pulled close to the alpha, a firm hand pressed to his back but not tight enough that he couldn’t escape if he wanted to.

Closing the last few inches between them, Louis nuzzles his face against Harry’s neck. Pheromones have been permeating the air ever since Harry stormed into the flat, but they were the opposite of calming before. Now though, they’re everything Louis wants and needs. The omega lets out a content sigh and closes his eyes as he’d only get dizzy squinting like that.

Fully focusing on the soothing smell that’s enveloping him Louis barely registers Harry’s hand stroking the back of his head ever so lightly.

This is the first time Harry is scenting him not because Louis’ body physically needs it due to the attachment figure issue but because he simply needs to be calmed down. Probably anyone could help him in this situation, or at least anyone he trusts. But it only makes sense for Harry to do it, seeing as one, he’s obviously available and two, he was the one to cause Louis’ state of distress. Or intensified it.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you,” Harry whispers after an undefined amount of time.

“It’s okay,” Louis croaks. He moves from sniffing Harry’s neck to his collar bones. The scent glands are higher up, Louis is aware of that, but he just… feels like it. He wants it to feel more intimate and less like the usual business transaction of pack alpha helping a pack member in need.

“We’ll figure something out.”

It sounds awfully like a promise that Louis hopes Harry can live up to.

Of course it’s only a matter of time until Louis’ body goes from needing to be calmed down to needing to be fucked, to say it bluntly. It recognises the well familiar alpha pheromones and initiating some nice mutual orgasms would only be a logical thing, right?

Except this is not what Louis wants right now. Besides the fact that he definitely doesn’t want Harry to smell his increasing arousal, he just wants to be pampered right now, and not in the sexual way. It’s been a bumpy few days and he deserves some inner peace.

So in the end, Louis can’t do anything but hope that his room already smells enough like him to cover his arousal smell and that maybe Harry mostly smells his own scent. If that’s how it works, Louis isn’t sure.

Harry stays for more than an hour and Louis feels like a whole new person when they untangle themselves and Harry starts to get dressed again.

“I’ll call Zayn and consult with him. And then Bobby.”

“Don’t stress about it too much,” Louis says where he’s still sitting on the bed, lower body covered by his bed sheets.

Harry turns around with a glare before reaching for his jacket. “I do not condone threatening of any form in my pack. This is a safe place.”

Louis nods and watches Harry get ready. It feels more domestic than usually somehow.

“Thank you. For everything.”

With a hand on the door handle, the corners of Harry’s mouth twitch upwards. This is the closest Louis has seen him to smiling today.

“There is no need to thank me so often, Louis.”

“Because it’s your job, I know.”

“That, and because I seriously don’t mind it with you. You’re a very likeable character.”

Louis blushes at the compliment. He wishes he could switch likeable for loveable, but it’s a start and a confirmation that Harry isn’t fed up with his ongoing problems.

“You as well.”

Harry genuinely smiling is probably the win of the day.

An hour after Harry has left and Louis has had enough time to process everything, he decides to text Stan if he’s up for a call. Within a couple minutes his best friend from home is phoning him. Similar to when Louis visited his family, it just feels so good to hear the voice of someone you love and grew up with.

Stan reports how everyone Louis considers a friend is doing, how Oli got fired from the pizza place he’s been working at for only three months because he got the orders wrong one too many times, how Calvin is still with his long-term girlfriend and how Stan himself has recently started his new job at the townhall. Catching up reminds Louis of the good old times and he’s incredibly thankful to have a strong enough bond with Stan to still be friends with him after everything that’s been happening. True friends are hard to find and very precious.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I really, really, really didn't have time to write this so whoops let's hope I can catch up with everything I'm supposed to do. 
> 
> Also I got a comment (thanks for the lovely feedback btw!) saying I apparently update every 15th day and today it's only the 9th or smth, so yay! :D
> 
> Hope you're all happy and healthy, enjoy reading! :)

It’s been a good two months since Louis’ arrived in Holchap. That’s a sixth of a year already, it’s crazy to think how fast time is flying.

Working at the bookstore has been uneventful since Louis told Ed about the note. By now Louis recognises a few of their regulars and it fills him with pride whenever he can greet Mr Fisher with his name. The old man mostly comes to chat since his wife passed away a year ago, and occasionally he picks up a book to gift his daughter whenever she’s in town. She left for the human world, he tells Louis. Not Doncaster, but Manchester. That’s also why, despite his age, he’s so unbothered by the fact that Louis is a transformed member.

“I judge people based on their behaviour, not based on their origin,” Mr Fisher said one time and it warmed Louis’ heart. He seriously wishes more people would think like him.

Altogether, Ed has been trusting him more and more, giving Louis evening shifts alone so that he has to lock up. Still, Louis prefers Ed there with him. Not because he’s scared or feels unsafe or anything, but because he likes having company. Ed’s great fun to have around and he’s been showing Louis some chords on the guitar, so that’s definitely more fun than chilling alone when there’s no customer present.

When Louis had told Niall about the threat (after Liam’s rut was over and Niall answered his phone), the omega was worried but tried to not show it, as far as Louis can tell. Niall has faith in both Harry and Liam as their leaders though, and assures Louis that they’ll work something out and to tell either of them in case other weird things start to happen. So far, everything has stayed quiet though.

The following Tuesday night Louis finds himself cuddling up to Harry on the alphas’ sofa - once again. Looking back, Louis is incredibly glad that his body chose Harry as his attachment figure - it could’ve been some strange old dude that stinks and is unwilling to help Louis with his issue. He doesn’t have to think about that, luckily, because Harry has been amazing all along. And he smells fantastic as always.

They’re watching _Brooklyn 99_ , mostly because Louis has been relentlessly bugging Harry to start it but the alpha has been declining with an “I’m too busy with the pack to watch Netflix” whenever it’s brought up. Tonight though, Harry had been weirdly on edge from the moment Louis had entered the flat, all through their shared dinner – some vegetable meal Harry fixed them–, so he agreed in the end. Louis is pretty sure he doesn’t give two fucks though, because he chose the episode Louis is currently on and therefore missed three seasons of context. The jokes are funny and understandable either way, but even then, Harry barely lets out more than an amused huff.

Louis shuffles close, as they always do, pressed up to Harry’s side. Usually the alpha has his left arm around him, but this time he doesn’t, both arms by his side and palms spread out on his thighs. Whenever Louis moves the slightest bit, Harry does as well, like his body physically tells him to.

This whole meeting up is 99% unnecessary. Louis barely gets sick anymore, it’s been getting better for days and days without downs, and that could be because they do see each other regularly, but none of them mention it. Harry knows Louis is feeling better, too, but meeting up every second night or whenever possible kind of belongs to their routine by now and no one wants to be the first to break it. Karen would probably be very pleased with this development, but Louis hasn’t called her again in the fear that she’ll tell him that it’s not necessary to meet and get scented by Harry anymore. He wouldn’t want to lie to Harry so they’d probably stop this, and Louis doesn’t want to risk it.

It’s weird how twitchy Harry is tonight. Between the two of them, he’s always been the relaxed one, the one with full control over the situation. Now though, Harry breathes out audibly when Louis comes closer to his neck. The omega has literally done this dozens, maybe hundreds of time by now - it’s the closest his nose can come to the magical source of alpha pheromones in the end.

It’s the fourth time Louis has directly sniffed Harry tonight, but this time the alpha goes noticably stiff. Louis comes to the conclusion that the alpha’s behaviour is a little _too_ odd to shake it off, so he draws back a few inches and shoots Harry a questioning look.

The pack leader returns his gaze for a second before breaking the eye contact and shaking his head with a groan. Moving a little away from Louis, he rolls his shoulders back in the attempt of easing the stiffness in his upper body.

Jake is beefing with everyone on screen right now, but Louis’ newly found focus is Harry. Not that the telly ever had a higher priority than him, but he can always rewatch _Brooklyn 99_.

For a second, Louis considers throwing his leg over Harry’s so that he’d be clinging onto him like a koala bear. He decides against it immeaditely though - it’d be nice, but he doesn’t want to fuck it up with Harry. It’d be a bit much and definitely not part of the typical scenting experience. Unless you’re a couple.

Harry seems to have a grip on his body after that, or at least Louis believes though until he unconsciously puts a hand over the alpha’s stomach. He’d been wanting to close his eyes and let the forest air wash over him, but Harry’s sharp breath in has his eyes flying open again.

“Louis,” Harry hisses.

Unsure what to do, Louis remains in the position. “Yeah?”

He waits a couple seconds, but Harry doesn’t reply.

“What’s up?”

“You smell,” the alpha says and it sounds slightly forced.

_You smell._ Hearing that _hurts_. No one wants to hear any commentary on their smell other than positive, especially when it’s a situation like this. If one of the lads told Louis he’s smelly after footie practice when they’re all sweaty, that’s okay, because they are most likely as well. Tonight though, Louis even showered before coming over.

Immeaditely backing off after hearing the alpha’s words, Louis can’t hide the sadness and hurt in his quiet voice. “I… smell?”

Harry sounds choked up when he replies with gritted teeth. “Yeah… very intensly.”

Alright, that’s enough embarrassment for the night, Louis decides and scrambles up. He fumbles for his phone on the couch, acutely avoiding Harry. “Sorry, I… I’ll go home.”

At that, Harry springs up, almost like he’s alarmed. “No!” he shouts, faltering when he realises his voice is too loud and has Louis wincing. “I didn’t mean it like that! You smell good… too good.”

Louis’ eyebrows draw together, not understanding. “Too good?”

Harry cringes. No verbal answer is necessary when Louis’ eyes follow Harry’s hand. The alpha adjusts himself, but the attempt of getting his little … problem under control is only semi-successful as the bulge is still very visible. Louis gulps, unsure what to do. This is not what he expected at all. Harry got _hard_ because of Louis’ omega smell.

Louis feels so indecent as his eyes flicker down to Harry’s crotch a second time to make sure he’s not imagining this (he’s not). It’s not like Louis has never looked there before - it’s pretty hard to avoid when your head is regularly resting on someone’s shoulder (or it’s hard to avoid for Louis, at least).

So here Louis and Harry are standing in silence, between the couch and the coffee table, Harry with a boner and Louis speechless and clueless on how to act. Luckily, Harry is the one to take control again.

“Are you close to your heat?“

Louis blushes at the mention of his heat, casting his eyes down to the pillows to his right.

“Yeah. In two days, approximately.”

Harry nods. “That’s early enough, especially for newly transformed members.”

Somehow, that statement massively annoys Louis. How would Harry know about newly transformed members, their smells and heats? Maybe it’s ridiculous to feel jealous about the thought of Harry knowing other former humans, because surely he must as pack alpha. Louis’d be naive to think that he’s the first transformed member Harry has met. Still, he can’t help himself.

“Do you know other omegas like me then?”

“Louis, I know about every member who’s joined this pack over the past twenty years,” Harry reasons.

Louis huffs. “Do _I_ know former humans here then?”

The alpha sighs. “You know it’s against the pack law to talk about a pack member’s history unless they initiate it. I can’t tell you.”

Of course Louis knows that. It’s written somewhere in the ton of informational documents he was to read before joining the pack. Obviously the pack members will know you’re new and because of your developing smell, a human, but once you’re a member, everyone joining the pack after you will be under the impression that you’ve been here all along, unless you decide to bring it up. This way, Louis’ only way to talk to former humans is to visit the support group Ed had told him about, but he doesn’t want that.

The unresolved tension in the living room is awkward. They’re both standing still, this being quite the unusual situation.

“So are you kicking me out now?” Louis asks. It’d be weird to just sit down again and resume to scenting and they both know it. Plus, Harry’s boner still hasn’t gone down, so it’d be highly uncomfortable for him to keep going.

“Not _kicking you out._ ”

Louis looks at him for a moment, face as neutral as possible. “But you want me to go?”

Sighing, Harry tilts his head, the corners of his mouth twitching. Jake Peralta is laughing in the background, but neither of them pay the tv any attention.

“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what’s best right now.”

Louis hesitates for a second but nods in the end. What else can he do? He can’t very well insist on getting scented some more because Harry is the one offering the service here. You don’t go to the hairdresser when they’re on holiday either - which is a horrible, horrible comparison Louis thinks as he gathers his things to go home. He hasn’t brought much in the first place, because it’s Tuesday and he didn’t intend to sleep over.

He’s in the hallway when a thought hits Louis. What does he smell like to Louis? Niall still hasn’t given him a satisfying answer to that questions, claiming it was indescribable and still developing. But what kind of smell would affect Harry enough to get him hard? Is he into chocolate, candy floss, the taste of pure sugar?

Louis is so close to asking but they’re already at the door and he’s slipping into his shoes, Harry’s eyes lingering on him. For some reason, it doesn’t feel appropriate to ask it here and now, in between doors like an omega’s personal smell is something to bring up in small talk or a quick goodbye.

A thing Louis does actively decide to do though, is hug Harry goodbye. Usually they only hug hello and goodbye when Niall and Liam are around, because it’s a common greeting. When Louis visits his flat, Harry normally simply leads him inside.

This time, a hug it is. And Louis would be lying if he says he doesn’t have ulterior motives, because he does. He wants to say goodbye and thank you to Harry in a friendly way, but even more than that he intends to leave a lasting impression with his scent. Hugging someone means your nose is close to their shoulder - and vice versa.

When he pulls back, Louis smiles at Harry timidly. His heat really must be close, and Louis isn’t sure whether he’s mentally ready for that. The weeks have passed much quicker than he’d realised.

“It’ll be fine,” Harry assures him. “You’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.” Louis zips his jacket up. Despite the progressing spring, it’s been surprisingly chilly outside the past two days.

“I know so.” Harry smiles. “We’ll see each other when you’re done.”

This time around, Louis’ symptoms before his heat are way more prominent and less comfortable than last time. It starts the Tuesday night when he gets home from Harry’s and only gets worse on Wednesday. Tummy aches, sweating, his whole body aching all over - everything really.

Thankfully, Ed is aware of his situation and allows him to go home on Wednesday after his early shift and tells him only to come back when his heat is fully over. Louis ends that conversation topic as quickly as possible because he’s not really up to talking about his cycle with his beta boss. Bringing it up with Niall is already awkward, but at least he’s a fellow omega with similar experiences.

Louis’ heat starts the Thursday it’s supposed to start at. To a certain extent, Louis is glad it’s on time, because he’d probably himself stupid if it weren’t, and he doesn’t want to call Karen if it’s not necessary.

The first real waves of heat sweat are overwhelming, way more intense than he remembers his last heat. Food and water are stocked up and at hand on Louis’ nightstand and apart from maybe a shower if he’s lucky, he probably won’t be leaving his bed much for the next two days anyway.

It’s sadistic how he’s now got the scent of Harry on his mind not occasionally but _all the bloody time._ Louis’ body is positively screaming for its attachment figure and there’s no way to stop it. Well - there is, actually, but it’s out of question. There are countless reasons why Harry can’t be here and pinning Louis to the bed.

The need to have Harry close doesn’t let up, even after Louis’ come thrice by noon, two fingers in his hole and semi-hard again. Harry, Harry, Harry. Why isn’t Harry here? It’s easy to forget when Louis’ mind is this fogged up with need and arousal and _Harry_.

There’s only one way to find out, Louis figures. So he calls Harry. Unfortunately the alpha doesn’t pick up. Why doesn’t stupid, stupid Harry pick up the phone when Louis needs him most? Stupid alpha and his heavenly scent.

Louis calls Harry at least twice, or that’s at least what he can remember. Once he waits long enough to go through to voice mail, whining pathetically about needing Harry and begging him to come over. (When he remembers that after his heat is mostly over, he cringes himself into another nap because he hopes Harry hasn’t listened to it. He should know better than to listen to omegas in heat.)

Altogether, Louis’ heat is not really satisfying with the little knowledge he has about his omega body. He comes a lot and quite quickly, too, but it’s still all so unfamiliar. The way his tummy tingles when he fingers himself, the way his cock peeks up just a couple minutes after coming. The literal heat taking over his body when another heat wave rolls over him. He never ever wants to imagine anyone seeing him in this state other than a lover who he fully trusts.

In conclusion, Harry’s help would be appreciated. There’s no doubt in Louis’ mind that Harry would know how to work his fingers, know how to make him feel _so_ good.

The heat lasts until Saturday noon, the average two days. When he settles against the soaked bedsheets after the hopefully last orgasm for the weekend, Louis’ exhausted. He wonders whether it’s this draining with a partner as well. Probably not, being fucked is easier than fucking himself on his fingers and jerking himself at the same time. Multitasking with a drowsy mind isn’t the easiest thing.

For the rest of the day, Louis has absolutely no expectations to be productive. The most motivation he can muster up is showering, which feels absolutely incredible, the dried sweat and slick and come (and maybe one or two tears) being washed away, and changing his bed sheets. Louis definitely needs to do a couple rounds of laundry before having any guests over, because even if he can’t identify his own smell, he can tell it’s very potent in the flat. He airs his bed room as well, while snacking some grapes on his bed, and it’s just the lazy evening Louis deserves.

The new found squad of four - Liam, Niall, Harry and Louis - meet up on Sunday evening. Louis’ been feeling better, no symptoms of his heat remaining, so he’s glad he doesn’t have to miss the lads night.

Harry offers his flat and Louis is glad they’re not meeting at Liam’s again or Niall’s, because he’s most familiar with Harry’s flat. His own flat obviously wasn’t up for negotiation and no one even suggested it.

They agree to meet early in the evening because Niall has an early shift the next morning, so they won’t be staying until late at night. Like many times before, Louis climbs the stairs to Harry’s door and is greeted with the alpha inviting him in.

“How are you feeling?” Harry asks, closing the door behind Louis and lingering around as the omega unties his shoes.

“Good. Better.” Louis can feel the blush creeping across his face. Harry is referencing to his heat, which unvoluntarily brings back memories from the last days. He came with Harry on his mind, for fuck’s sake.

“Good,” Harry smiles. He’s about to turn around and walk to the living room when Louis lightly reaches for his arm.

“I’m sorry for… calling you?” Louis apologises awkwardly.

Fortunately, Harry doesn’t react negatively, doesn’t cringe. His face stays in check. “It’s okay. It’s natural.”

Niall’s already in the living room, sprawled out across the couch, a beer already opened.

“Hey Lou!”

“Hi Nialler,” he greets his friends, plopping down next to him. Louis is very grateful that Niall chooses not to bring up his recent absence. Instead, he talks about how two nurses from his ward have been flirting and the rest of them are betting on when they’ll finally get their head out of their arses. It feels good to hear something so mundane after being completely out of the daily life for a few days.

Liam joins them fifteen minutes later, bringing their ordered varities of pasta. Whenever Louis is over, Harry and him usually dine at the kitchen table like distinguished gentlemen, but Harry allows them to eat on the couch as long as they’re careful not to spill anything. Niall does make a mess with his tomato sauce though, halts a second to see if anyone’s caught it and loudly bursts out laughing when Louis stares right back at them. It doesn’t go unnoticed but Harry deliberately ignores it while Liam hands a paper towel over for Niall to wipe the stain.

When they’re done eating, they settle comfortably, Niall with his legs up and taking up the most space. Louis is sitting between the omega and Harry, Liam on the other end of the couch. They decide to watch some series that Louis once again has never heard of, and it’s in a pack setting like last time. Louis enjoys watching content like that, comparing his impressions of Holchap with other packs, even if they’re fictional. Maybe one day he’ll be able to visit a neighbouring pack, or one abroad?

Sitting next to Harry is a perfect opportunity to cuddle up to him. By now, neither Niall nor Liam spare them a glance when Louis moves to shuffle closer to the pack alpha. Liam’s and Niall’s scent are a bit distracting, creating a mixed cocktail of fragrances in the air, so it feels even better to concentrate on the forest pheromones completely. His mind tells him Harry’s scent will comfort him after the agitative days of heat. A few seconds later, Louis finds out his mind isn’t wrong.

Sniffing Harry after days of not getting to do that is intoxicating.

Clouds of mist are wandering through the chilly forest air. It’s close to dawn, no more sun light illuminating the yielding moss beneath Louis’ feet. Faint rustling of leaves can be heard and Louis feels like he’s in a movie. It’s only him and the woods.

Two new characters have been introduced in the meantime, and Louis has no clue what their name or function is in the series. He doesn’t ask because he’d admit to being distracted then.

Harry lets it happen when Louis rests his head on his shoulder. He lets it happen when, five minutes later, Louis tilts his head upwards to get better access to Harry’s scent gland. He even lets it happen when Louis tucks his legs up and presses as close to him as possible. His body is floating on cloud nine, heady from the sensational scent. He doesn’t think about anything but that because what could matter more?

Liam shoots them small glances, obviously noticing what’s going on three feet from him. Neither of them react to it and it makes Louis all tingly and happy inside because Harry is aware of their friends noticing but he’s still not interrupting Louis. Instead, he tilts his head as well, burying his nose in Louis’ hear, breathing in.

Niall coughs. Either because he’s subtly hinting at them being a bit _too_ obvious, or because he seriously needs to cough. Both Harry’s and Louis’ scent is detectable in the living room air and to Niall’s sensitive omega nose it must feel like they’re not far from taking the scenting to the next level. Not that they’d ever get indecent in front of their friends.

Harry breathes out one last time before turning his head towards the telly again, but they still stay in that position for the remaining minutes of the episode. It’s no question to continue the series for another three episodes.

With Liam and Niall sitting apart from each other, it feels like the focus is on Harry and Louis the whole time. Both friends keep sneaking glances at the cuddled up pair from the corner of their eyes, although everyone pretends to attentively follow the series’ plot. Thankfully, no mating cycles are displayed in the episodes they’re watching, though there’s one incident of an alpha scenting and omega and that seems uncomfortably familiar.

Niall slaps his thighs as he surprisingly gets up a couple minutes later. “I’ll be on my way.”

Louis looks up. “Already?”

“Yeah,” the omega nods. “I have to be up at 5 am. Early shift.”

“That sucks,” Liam sympathises, already aware that Niall would be leaving earlier. “I wouldn’t want to switch places with you.”

Niall shrugs as he stretches. “It’s okay, I don’t mind too much once I’m at the hospital. The struggle is just getting up.”

Reluctantly Louis detaches himself from Harry’s side as Niall goes around to hug everyone goodbye, first Liam, then Harry, then Louis.

“I’ll walk you outside,” Louis offers spontaneously. While it’s usually Harry’s task as the host to guide his guests out, but Louis just feels the urge to loosen up the situation, with only Liam remaining in the room with them. He doesn’t want this lads night to turn awkward.

To Louis’ surprise, Harry doesn’t object, just lolls his head back and sighs.

Louis follows Niall through the hallway where the omega is putting on his trainers and denim jacket. He turns to face Louis when he’s all buttoned up, a smile on his face. Louis moves to hug him again, and Niall keeps him in place with a tight grip to whisper in his ear.

“Don’t make it too hard for Harry tonight.”

“Huh?”

Niall’s eyebrows are raised when he sees how genuinely confused Louis looks. “Believe me, Harry has proven _massive_ self control tonight.”

At that, Louis blushes, understanding what Niall is getting at. “Yeah, I…”

Patting him on the shoulder, Niall walks to the door. “I was just saying. You guys were pretty obvious tonight.”

The blush on Louis’ cheek intensifies when Niall winks at him before saying a final goodbye and exiting the flat. Louis takes five seconds to just stand still in the hallway, processing what Niall has just hinted at. He was aware Harry and him scenting and cuddling had been obvious, but was it that much of a toll on the pack alpha? Maybe it was, maybe his post-heat scent is still lingering around.

When he feels he’s composed enough to return to the living room, he walks back to find Liam and Harry watching the summary of today’s football highlights. Neither of them look like they’re really invested though.

Louis sits down with a few inches between him and Harry, not wanting to assume they’d pick up where they had left of. When Harry doesn’t initiate physical contact, Louis doesn’t either. His omega is whining about how their knees could be touching if he just moved a bit.

At some point, Liam asks Louis about footie when the alpha realises how interested Louis is in the scenes of the Man U game he missed. Louis tells him about the teams he used to play in - and at some point coach some kiddies - at home in Doncaster. Liam proposes to ask Niall about playing with his mates some time and Louis is proud to report that he’s already met and messed around with them before. The alpha seems happy when Louis mentions their footie dates, seems happy that Louis is building a social life here in Holchap.

A ringing interrupts the conversation. Louis turns to face Harry, who has stayed mostly quiet in the past minutes.

“That’s not my phone,” Harry informs them.

Liam’s already up though, hectically searching for his phone. “Have you seen mine?”

“I think you left it in the kitchen,” Louis suggests.

The ringing stops before Liam can reach it though. He returns to the living room, his forehead creased. “That was Niall.”

There’s a different ringing sounding in the room that Louis recognises as Harry’s ring tone. Harry grabs his phone from the coffee table and accepts the call.

“Niall?”

Louis’ brows draw together. It must be serious if Niall calls Harry straight after attempting to reach Liam. He can’t hear what the omega says on the other side of the line, but Harry’s whole body tenses.

“Wait, I’ll put you on loud,” Harry says and lowers the phone from his ear.

“There are papers hung up all over town.”

“What?” Liam asks confused.

“Papers with, uh, certain stuff on it,” Niall replies and it sounds like he’s walking. “Plastered all over lamp posts, shop windows, traffic light posts, the likes.”

“What’s on them?”

Louis gulps. If Niall calls them about this, it must be something bad.

**_“Overthrow the Doncaster dictators. The humans are stealing our hard won freedom. Act now.”_ **

Louis’ mind blanks, unbelieving that this is happening right now. Baiting against the humans, again. Against the human politicians and most likely Holchap’s politics as well. It was stupid to believe everything has gone back to normal after nothing bad followed the threat Louis received.

Harry’s face is hard, his lips pressed together. “We’re meeting you outside. Where are you right now?”

“I’ll meet you in front of the pack office.”

They don’t take a second to stand and stare at each other in confusion and disbelief, because Harry is already moving, grabbing a jacket on the go and slipping into his shoes. Liam follows him suit, but Louis feels paralysed, his limbs moving slowly.

The pack alpha and pack beta are impatiently waiting for him to zip up his jacket. He fails three times before finally suceeding, then they’re rushing down the stairs.

Harry spots the first paper opposite his street. It’s taped to the window of a flower shop that’s obviously closed and dark right now. With no traffic on the street, Harry crosses it and rips the paper off.

It says exactly what Niall had read out on the phone, the messages emphasised with multiple exclamation marks. Liam and Louis examine the paper as well, until Harry folds it, stuffs it into his back pocket and fastly walks in the direction of the pack office.

Niall’s already awaiting them when the three of them arrive and nervously approaches them, a stack of papers in his hands.

“I’ve collected all the papers I’ve seen so far, but it looks like they’re distributed all over Holchap.”

Harry takes the papers from Niall and flicks through them, but they appear to say the same. It’s not cold tonight as nothern England has been blessed with the first pleasant wave of spring warmth, but Louis shivers involuntarily.

“Fuck,” Liam curses and looks around the market square, in search of more papers in their vicinty.

“You can say that out loud,” Niall agrees.

Louis tries to catch Harry’s eyes, but the alpha is preoccupied with inspecting the sheets. “Were that Cowell and co again?”

“Yes.” Harry looks up when Niall straight out confirms Louis’ suspicion. “I’m a hundred percent sure it was him. Fucking arsehole.”

“He must have had help though. Holchap isn’t that big, but it’s too big for one person to hang up these,” he points to the flyers, “all on your own.”

“Great,” Niall grits out. “More tossers like him.”

The omega is visibly angry, and while Louis can understand that, he’s more intimidated. This is a much bigger matter than just a simple note in his post box. Spreading bait all over Holchap is a whole other dimension. If people start believing this, what could happen? Riots, attacks, a revolution? Louis shudders at the prospect of a serious conflict between Holchap and Doncaster. He’s too involved with both parties.

“What are we going to do now?” he asks to distract himself from his thoughts. He addresses no one in particular, and no one seems to have an answer. Liam turns to Harry.

“Harry, what do we do? If we take them off, Cowell and Winston will go public and argue that we’re controlling their freedom of speech. But if we let them hang the whole village will see this bullshit first thing in the morning.”

The pack alpha remains silent for a few seconds before answering. “We’ll let them hang,” he announces. “They’re probably spread all over the city and we’re only four people in the dark. It’d take ages to get rid of them and we don’t even have evidence that it was Cowell.”

Niall scoffs and throws in a “It was him though!” but Harry continues.

“We’ll contact the protectors and have a special force collect them as soon as possible tomorrow. And I’ll prepare an official statement.”

Everyone agrees with that. Louis is massively impressed how Harry manages to keep a calm mind in this exceptional situation, but it only underlines how good of a pack alpha he is.

“Okay, I guess I’ll get going then.” Louis points to the rough direction his flat is located at, but Harry’s head snaps towards him. His pupils are blown due to the poor lighting.

“You’re not going anywhere, you’re coming with me.”

Normally, Louis would spring at this opportunity, but him sleeping over wasn’t planned and with everything that happened tonight, he doesn’t want to be… too much.

“It’s not far from here though, I’ll be fine.”

“You’re coming with me, Louis, no discussion,” Harry repeats and his tone is dead serious.

Louis’ eyes sway to Liam and Niall, but both of them choose to stay quiet.

“I’ll just be an unnecessary burden though.”

Harry huffs. “You’re not a burden. You’re sleeping over at mine until we’ve got a better view of things tomorrow. I need you safe.”

Louis shuts up at that and willingly goes home with Harry after Liam offers to walk Niall home. _I need you safe._

It’s terrifying how different entering Harry’s flat feels the second time around. When Louis knocked on the door a couple hours back, he had nothing on his mind other than dinner, beer and their choice of telly programme (and Harry’s scent), but all that’s changed now. Even the light in the hallway feels different now.

They both get ready for bed without another word. Louis fixed himself a glass of water in the kitchen, gulps down half of it and refills it to carry it to the guest room. A shirt and the grey jogging bottoms Louis had worn before are already resting on the bed for Louis to wear for the night.

He undresses quickly, trying to focus on pulling on the freshly washed pieces of clothing and not the overwhelming silence that’s encouraging scary thoughts. How the hell is Louis supposed to fall asleep tonight? And once he falls asleep, how many nightmares are going to plague him?

Louis is sitting on the guest bed, staring at the wall when Harry returns from the bathroom.

“Are you okay?”

Looking up, Louis nods tightly, his hand clasped in his lap. “Yeah, I… yeah.”

Harry musters him where he stands in the door. His voice is soft when he speaks up again.

“Come on over to my bedroom… if you want to.”

Louis’ first reaction is to object, but he has a feeling Harry is actually inviting him to his bed instead of proposing a switch. He nods wordlessly, holding the eye contact.

Harry is leading the way, Louis on his heels after the omega switched off the light. His heart is beating relentlessly in his chest because _he’s going to be sleeping in Harry’s bed, with Harry!_

If Louis could choose, he’d be sandwiched between his wall and Harry again, like he was in his own bed, but Harry’s bed is standing free so that’s not an option. The alpha settles on the bed first, pushing the duvet back. Louis lingers next to the bed insecurely. Sleeping with Harry, even if it’s not in _that way_ , seems like such a drastic step in the development of their relationship.

When Harry pats the spot next to him though, Louis throws all doubts over board and crawls into bed. They lie down, shuffling around until they’re both comfortable.

“It’s clever,” Louis mumbles. He needs to talk about this night’s incident or he won’t be able to shut his mind off enough to sleep. “To do this on a Sunday night. Everyone will see it on Monday morning and it’s going to be the talk of the town.”

Harry turns to lie on his side, facing Louis. “Yeah.” He stops for a second. “Don’t worry about it. We’re going to sleep now and when we wake up in the morning, we’ll look at it more rationally. The protectors and I are going to figure something out in the pack office.”

_Everything is going to look more positive when you wake up in the morning,_ his parents always used to say when Louis was too upset to go to sleep. Growing up, Louis mostly worried about stupid things, like fighting with Stan or a class test or a broken toy. And to a certain extent, the message behind saying that may be right, because one is always more emotional at night. Unfortunately, it doesn’t solve any of the fears Louis has right now.

“Okay,” he murmurs nonetheless. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The few inches of distance between them feel like miles and miles, but this is Harry’s bed that Louis has simply been invited to sleep in, so he shouldn’t overstrain Harry’s courtesy.

He wants to be close to him though. Louis needs to be cuddled, reassured. It’s not even about scenting, because Harry is close enough to him that his pheromones are enveloping Louis pleasantly.

A few minutes later, a surge of braveness washes over Louis and he inches closer to the alpha. His intention is clear and his heart misses at least two beats when Harry doesn’t stop him but actually opens his arm for Louis to cuddle up to him. They’re both wearing shirts, but with their chests touching it almost feels like they aren’t. Harry breathes audibly, tugging Louis closer and burying his nose in Louis’ hair as he releases more pheromones. Louis is almost sure he is too, involuntarily. Hopefully he’ll be able to control that in the near future.

Zero nightmares haunt Louis that night and he’s sure that’s only because of Harry’s presence.

Unfortunately, Harry isn’t in bed when Louis wakes up the next morning. On a second thought, it’s not so unfortunate after all because he’s hard. Sleeping in Harry’s flat, in Harry’s bedroom, in his bed with the alpha touching him has an undeniable effect on him. Harry’s scent is so, so potent in the air, Louis feels like he’s being scented. Was Harry aroused as well when he got up?

Either way, he sure as hell won’t be acting on it. If wanking in Harry’s guest bed was a no-go, this is the king of no-gos. Louis almost mourns the lost opporunity of a good morning wood orgasm as he adjusts himself before making his way to the bathroom to splash some cold water into his face. The attempt to sort out his wild hair is mostly useless.

Harry is in the kitchen, fully dressed and on the last sip of his coffee. He looks well composed, decent clothes on and his hair brushed, but the dark circles beneath his eyes give last night’s stress away.

“Good morning,” Louis says as he enters the kitchen, eyeing the remaining coffee in the pot.

“Good morning.” Harry puts down the now empty mug in the sink, not making a move to clean it, which is highly unusual for him. “I need to leave now, I called in a meeting for 7.”

“Oh,” Louis makes dumbly, looking down on himself. One trouser leg is rolled up, he’s bare foot (bare foot in the kitchen, he thinks ironically, only one thing missing now) and there’s a water stain on his shirt. “I’m sorry I’m not ready yet. I’ll be as quick as possible!”

He’s already whirled around when Harry interrupts him.

“No, no, don’t worry. You’ve got another hour until work, right?”

Louis nods.

“Then you can stay here and take your time getting ready. I’ll leave you the key and you can bring it to the pack office during your lunch break?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Louis considers it for a second before nodding again. “Okay.”

He only realises the heaviness of Harry’s proposition when the’s already out of the door. It’s a massive sign of trust to leave your keys with someone, and not only that, but to trust them to stay in your flat alone. If Louis were careless and forget to lock up correctly, someone could break in. Holchap as a whole makes a safe, crimefree imression, but apparently the current situation in the pack is a bit … special, so you never know.

Louis feels warm all over when he turns the key in the lock and stores it in his pocket before walking to Mulligan books.

As predicted, the flyers are the talk of the town. Ed isn’t supposed to be working this morning, but he’s already in the shop when Louis arrives. His face is the definition of worry with a hint of annoyance.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah, what about you?”

Ed sorts through the register. “Same.” He looks up to Louis. “Have you heard about the flyers?”

Is Louis allowed to talk about last night? Ed’s a friend of Harry’s, but maybe it’s not public yet that Harry’s initiated a conference about it? Louis decides to play it safe.

“Yeah, I… I’ve seen them on the way here.”

Ed is shaking his head. “I can’t believe the crazy stuff that’s been going on here. Why can’t everyone just calm down?”

“I don’t know man,” Louis mumbles, eyes following the man who’s about to enter the shop.

Most customers coming in during Louis’ shift say at least something about the papers, or they’ve obviously seen them and it’s preoccupying their mind. Around noon Ed comes to the counter after having spent some time going through bills in the backroom.

“Want to order some food for lunch break? It’s on the house.”

“That’s nice, but I’ll be out during my break,” Louis declines.

Ed’s eyebrows rise. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Louis smiles slightly with his lips pressed together to not give his jittery nerves away. “I have to bring Harry something to the pack office.”

A big smirk takes over Ed’s face, his eyes glinting. “Oh, you have to bring Harry something? Mh, I’m sure that can’t wait.” He pokes his cheek with his tongue, assuming that the omega is about to go to the office to get some … physical attention.

“Noo,” Louis shoves Ed in a friendly way. “I really do have to bring him something.”

The beta huffs, unbelieving, but the smirk never faltering. “What would that be then?”

“His keys,” Louis admits with a small voice, cheeks heating up.

Ed cackles loudly, almost bending over when he shoves Louis back. “I know you were trying to talk yourself out of this but mate, you just made it a hundred times worse.”

Louis fake-groans. “Stop it!”

“That’s no fun though.”

Half an hour later, when Louis grabs his jacket from the backroom and informs Ed that he’ll be off now, returning in about half an hour, Ed laughs again.

“You’re so whipped.”

“Am not!”

They both know it’s a lie.

Louis doesn’t see any more sheets of propaganda on his way from work to the pack office. It’s not a long walk and both locations are relatively central, so maybe Harry had the protectors collect them already.

Unlike the last time Louis was in the pack office, the reception counter to the right of the entrance is actually occupied this time. Louis is about to pass the blonde girl when she stops him.

“Excuse me, you can’t just walk upstairs!”

“Oh, uh, I’m supposed to meet Harry? Styles. We agreed I’d bring him something around noon.”

The woman types away on the PC in front of her, probably searching for any notes by Harry telling her that Louis is fine to pass. Eventually she seems to find what she’s looking for.

“Name?”

“Louis Tomlinson.”

She clicks another time before nodding. “You can go. Do you know how to get to Mr Styles’ office?”

Louis nods, unsure whether that’s the right answer. She’s never seen him around before and he doesn’t want to coin Harry with a bad reputation. “Yes,” he replies nonetheless. She’s in no position to judge him or Harry anyway.

Before she can ask anything else, Louis walks up the stairs and then down the hallway until he’s standing in front of Harry’s closed door. Best case scenario would’ve been running into Harry in the corridor because Louis doesn’t like barging in on people, especially not when they’re possibly very busy. He’s got no other option though.

Tentatively, he brings his fist up to knock on the door. When he hears a “yes” from inside, he pushes the handle down and opens the door slowly.

Four other pack members are present with Harry, leaning over what looks like a ton of notes on the desk. None of them look familiar so Louis assumes it’s some sort of specialists helping Harry handle the situation.

The alpha Louis’ looking for is standing, leaning forward so that his body is supported by the two arms resting on the desk. It looks very good with his arm muscles bulging that way. When he catches Harry’s eyes, the alpha pushes himself up and approaches him.

“Hey,” he smiles, eliciting a mirroring smile from Louis.

“Hi.”

He pulls Harry’s keys from his jacket’s pocket, holding them out for Harry to take.

“Short break for everyone,” Harry announces, voice loud before turning back to Louis. “Come with me.”

Louis follows Harry and tries not to focus on the curious stares from the four other pack members. Harry leads them to a conjoined room and closes the door to grant them some privacy. The blush on Louis’ face doesn’t die down but hopefully Harry doesn’t notice that. The alpha looks at him seriously.

“Were you okay, walking here?”

Louis nods, feeling warm that Harry worries about him. “Yeah, I’m good, nothing happened. The customers weren’t too harsh either, mostly worried.”

“Okay,” Harry swallows, content upon hearing that. When he turns to look out the window, he sighs. It’s visible how much he’s worked and concentrated already, probably going over how to proceed with Cowell and Doncaster and everything really.

“Our meetings will last all day. But you’re welcome after that.”

Louis is about to answer when Harry cuts him off with a hand movement, rummaging for something before holding out the keys Louis had just given him back.

“Actually, keep the key. You’ll probably be the first to be home anyway.”

Home. You’ll be the first to be _home!_ Louis’ mind is racing as he accepts the keys in a daze. Harry had called his flat home, which it obviously is for him, but a teeny tiny undertone also implied something more, even if he hadn’t meant to. Coming home first with a key for the flat is such a domestic thing, it almost stings Louis’ heart. Harry isn’t trusting him with his key not once but twice!

“Okay,” Louis agrees dumbly, still looking at the alpha with wide eyes. Harry smiles at him for a second before gesturing to his office.

“I’ve got to get back…”

“Yes. Yes!” Louis’ body kicks into motion and he almost stumbles on the way to open the door. His face is probably still flushed and he genuinely hopes no one thinks he’s been making out with Harry back here. Which, he wouldn’t say no to that probably.

Harry follows him to the door to the hallway where Louis turns around to say goodbye. He’s surprised by Harry actually initiating a hug first but composes himself quickly and hugs back.

“See you tonight.”

“Yes,” Louis smiley dopely. Apparently that look is still engraved on his face when he enters the bookstore because Ed doesn’t do anything else but make fun of him for the rest of his shift.

Louis is _home_ first, indeed. The granny living in Harry’s house musters him suspiciously when they meet in the staircase until he greets her in the most friendly way. She probably thinks Louis is breaking and entering until Louis produces the key from his pocket and unlocks the door. Now she’s probably thinking her pack alpha and some unknown omega are getting indecent, but you’ve gotta die one death.

Everything is how Louis left it, obviously. He’d cleaned up after himself, leaving no dirty dishes in the kitchen. When he’s standing in the hallway though, Louis has no idea what to do with himself. He doesn’t even know when Harry’s going to return. It might be hours until then!

At first he considers watching telly, but it feels kind of wrong to sit down on Harry’s couch alone and have full control over the remote. He’s not that desperately bored yet. A few minutes later, he decides to text Niall, who by now should be off his early shift. Maybe he’s sleeping though.

**L: Hey, up for a call?**

It’s only a matter of minutes before Niall calls him, not even texting back.

“Hey Lou,” the omega says. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s all good. I just have nothing to do.”

Footsteps can be heard in the background. “Are you busy right now? We can talk later if you are, it’s really not urgent at all.”

“No, no,” Niall assures him. “I just went out to get a pizza and I’m on my way home, no worries.”

“Alright. How was work?”

Niall goes on about how the couple they’ve been betting on may be going on their first official date next week because the alpha girl finally mustered up all her braveness and asked the nurse out. It’s cute and Louis almost feels like he knows them too by now.

“And how did you sleep tonight?” Niall asks him with a cackle similar to Ed’s. “Good, I imagine?”

“Considering the circumstances yes,” Louis replies coolly. He knows it’s just a facade and Niall is looking right through him.

“Poor you though, Liam said Harry called everyone in for 7. That’s the worst walk of shame, so early in the morning.”

“I, uh… I stayed at Harry’s until I went to work.”

“Alone?” Niall checks. Louis settles on the couch and puts Niall on loud because his arm is getting tired of holding the phone.

“Yes, of course alone, as Harry was obviously at the pack office.”

“Alright, no need to get mean,” Niall laughs and it sounds like a bus passes by. “So are you home now? Work’s over?”

“I’m at Harry’s actually.” The confession has Louis blushing once again and he’s a bit worried that his face will permanently take on the colour if that keeps happening in such a high frequency.

“You’re calling me while you’re at Harry’s? Are you sick or is he asleep?” Niall teases. If the omega were around, Louis’d flip him the bird.

“He’s still at the pack office,” Louis sighs. Dramatically, he adds “that’s why I’m calling you. I’m bored and have no one to entertain me here.”

“Ahh, there we go. I’m sorry babe, I’m not the right person to _entertain_ you like Harry does.”

Louis groans and gets up to look out the window. “I didn’t want you to gossip about my private life, I wanted you to keep me company and propose things to do in the mean time.”

“Wait a second, I need to put you down to unlock my door right now,” Niall interrupts their conversation and a variety of noises can be heard. The omega seems to be walking up the stairs, unlocking the door and shedding his shoes and jacket before talking to Louis again.

“Okay I’m back.”

“So, any suggestions to waste some time?” Louis picks up where they left off.

“Well, I’m going to eat now. Have you eaten anything? If not, do that.”

“I haven’t, no.” An idea comes across his mind then. Maybe that’s a good way to spend his time usefully.

“Hey Niall? You’re a good cook, right?”

While Niall is a good cook, Louis certainly isn’t. Of course the omega is immeaditely on board when Louis announces that he’ll cook for Harry and himself, but Niall has probably underestimated how much of an … inexperienced cook Louis really is.

He’s not in the mood to go grocery shopping so Louis checks the fridge and kitchen cabinets, talking Niall through everything he can find so that he can decide what meal would be possible and easy enough for him. The options aren’t that big because Harry definitely needs to stock up again.

“…and brown rice, that’s it.”

“Mh,” Niall makes. “Honestly, it’d probably be easiest if you just made some noodles or rice and a veggie sauce. Can’t go wrong with that.”

“You have no idea, Horan,” Louis says absentmindedly, checking for more hidden food under the sink but only finds a rubbish bin and some cleanser. “But okay. What do I do?”

Niall snorts in amusement. “You get the rice, put it into water and cook it. There’s usually even a little instruction on the back of the package.”

“Fuck you, I’ve made rice before,” Louis mumbles as he follows the steps. “I meant with the veggie sauce.”

When Harry comes home half an hour later, he announces his presence by calling out for Louis. The omega freezes and cringes in the kitchen. He’d been wanting to be done by the time Harry returned.

“Everything okay, Lou?”

“Yeah, I’m in the kitchen,” Louis calls back. Shortly after he hears footsteps nearing.

“Mh, smells good.”

“Then it smells better than it looks,” Louis says, hastily trying to keep the sauce from sizzling so loudly in the pan. The rice has been cooking for way too long by now, but cutting up the vegetables while keeping an eye on the onions had been all Louis felt able to concentrate on.

Harry laughs and comes up to him to take a look at the pot and pan on the stove. “That doesn’t look too bad though.”

“ _Not too bad_ , thanks,” Louis bites, but it’s in a playful way. “That’s what I was aiming for.”

“Even dry bread would make me happy after the exhausting day I’ve had.”

Louis watches Harry fix himself a glass of water from the corner of his eye before turning his attention back on the food. He has no idea if the sauce is ready and if he forgot something and when he looks back at Harry, the arsehole is grinning at how obviously overwhelmed he is.

“Niall was supposed to talk me through the cooking process but he fucked off a couple minutes ago.”

Harry takes a few sips, leaning against the counter. “Niall was here?”

“No, we talked on the phone,” Louis says as he lowers the heat, eyeing the food thoughtfully.

“Have you seasoned it yet?” Harry asks as he puts his water down.

“Uh… no.”

Seasoning it, of course Louis would forget that. In his flat he usually only goes for the classic sprinkle of salt, maybe a bit of turmeric if he’s feeling fancy. It’s not like he knows how to use them appropriately though. Thankfully, Harry’s already on it, grabbing various spices from the cupboard abvoe him.

The finished meal in fact isn’t that bad. It’s quite edible. Still, Louis is a bit ashamed that the man he’s crushing on saw him completely helpless in the kitchen. That’s not the impression he wants Harry to have of him.

“I’m sorry for the below average dinner.” He’s already done eating, having not too much of an appetite compared to Harry who is devouring the food like it was by a five star cook. “I’m not a good omega, apparently.”

Harry stops eating, the fork half way to his mouth. He looks Louis straight in the eyes. “You’re not a bad omega. Why would you think that?”

“Well, I obviously can’t cook. Isn’t that like, a basic skill for omegas?”

The alpha’s eyebrows knit together. “That’s a very conservative way of thinking. Of course it’s good to be able to feed yourself, but no one in Holchap will tell you the omega belongs in the kitchen.”

Louis stays quiet, gulping.

“Really, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And cooking is a skill that can be learned easily, if you really want to improve.”

Humming instead of answering verbally, Louis casts his eyes down to where he’s fumbling with his knife. It feels good to know that Harry doesn’t think he’s a bad omega, but he can’t help but feel like a failure, in a way.

Harry gathers their dishes as soon as he’s done and Louis is about to get up as well when Harry tells him to sit down again.

“Dessert,” he grins.

Dessert turns out to be leftover vanilla pudding that Louis hadn’t actively noticed in the fridge. He’s not complaining though, as it washes away the taste of his overcooked rice and watery sauce. As always, they clean up afterwards. They have quite a good system by now, with Harry doing the actual washing up and Louis drying off. Whenever Louis isn’t able to keep up, Harry will say something to stress him about being faster, making the omega threaten to hit him with the towel.

It’s when Harry’s done and Louis is just finishing the last plate that he notices how close they’re standing. Louis stores the plate where it belongs, towel still in his hand, as Harry approaches him. For a second Louis thinks he’s going to come _really_ close, but then the pack alpha looks down to dry off his hands on the towell Louis is still holding. Blinking up at Harry after staring at his big hands a second too long, the omega finds the green eyes already focused on his face.

To be honest, it’s Louis who glances down to Harry’s mouth first, and the alpha obviously catches that as the tiniest hint of a smirk plays around his lips, driving Louis even more insane. Harry smells good and he looks good and Louis can’t wait to find out whether he’s also good at kissing.

It’ll stay a mystery who leans in first or more, but the only important realisation is _oh fuck my lips are touching Harry’s_. Louis is actually kissing Harry. After all these months of repressed pining, he is kissing the alpha whose scent makes him squirmy and tingly and warm and hard.

Unsurprisingly, Harry’s lips are amazingly soft and plump. They move against Louis’ cautiously, like both of them are holding back. Louis’ heart is beating so fast it almost hurts his ripcage, but he literally can’t be bothered by anything right now. This is the best sensation ever and there’s no way anyone could convince him otherwise.

When the omega is just about to reach a hand up to caress Harry’s neck, the alpha pulls back. He doesn’t step back but makes sure they’re not kissing anymore, no matter how much Louis wants to chase after him. His face looks so torn, worry lines visible on his forehead, and he turns his head to avoid Louis’ eyes as he runs a hand through his hair. He looks like he may regret their kiss and that’s the worst possible outcome. Louis isn’t that bad of a kisser!

“Please don’t shut me out now,” Louis whispers, voice way more quiet than he had expected. Maybe Harry is just stealing his breath. And voice.

Harry sighs as he faces Louis again, both of them still leaning half against the counter, close enough to engage in another kiss in the matter of a milisecond.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here.” The way he says it is not malicious or disgusted, just purely… confused. Clueless.

“Well, that makes two of us,” Louis tries to brighten the mood. It’s selfish, but he doesn’t want this to be their last kiss - it wasn’t long enough for that. And if they go back and try to forget it now, won’t it turn super awkward?

Harry sighs again. “Louis, I’m pack alpha.”

“Harry, I know that.” He purposely uses Harry’s first name as well.

Silence fills the room as Harry stays quiet.

“Does that mean you’re not allowed a personal life though? Or feelings?”

“No, of course not,” Harry says, grimacing.

“Okay, then that issue’s solved on my side.”

Harry sighs again, like that’s the only answer he has for anything right now. “It’s not that easy.”

Louis musters him carefully. This is the most vulnerable he’s seen the pack alpha yet. He’d been given a certain insight into Harry’s head before, when they talked in bed last night or when they talked about Harry’s dad, but not like this.

“Why not, what else is there?” Louis pushes, voice soft.

“Everything going on with the pack right now…” Harry trails off, pressing his lips together. The lips Louis had kissed two minutes before. “I simply can’t afford to slack off. My pack needs me.”

“I know that too,” Louis tries to soothe him. “And that’s an awful lot of pressure.” Everyone would agree on that, and this Harry standing in front of him right now is positively crumbling under the pressure.

“But I think this,” Louis gestures between them, “falls under the personal life you’re entitled to have. Maybe it’s even good to have a healthy work-life-balance.” He blinks his eyes closed as if to wink at Harry.

The man cracks a small smile. “I see you’re not easing up.”

Louis smiles as well, happy with the turn this conversation is heading in. “No.”

Instead of replying, Harry bows down to kiss Louis again, surprising him. As soon as Louis’ mind catches up though, he can’t help but smile into the kiss so wide they almost break apart again, but Harry is smiling just as much. Harry’s palms on both sides of his face feel so good, so safe and warm. He’s been pressed closed to Harry before, whenever he’s being scented, but this feels even better. Harry’s body is firm and his shoulders broader and Louis wishes he could stay like this forever.

When Louis dares to open his mouth to deepen the kiss, every single worry about what’s going on in the pack and its environment is temporarily forgotten.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> I always say I'm stressed out but whenever I say that it only gets worse.:(  
> Also I think I've got a good overview how long Start your fate is going to be now: 9 chapters! 
> 
> I hope you're all doing well and enjoy reading :) 
> 
> (As most chapters, this isn't beta'd. I'll read over it tonight and try to fix some typos, but try to ignore them for now!)

Over the course of the next week, Harry is extremely busy with internal pack matters. Louis isn’t really involved in any of those and he doesn’t want to pry because yes, there’s obviously something going on between him and the pack alpha, but that doesn’t mean he can or wants to snoop around political secrets.

With everything that’s happening, Harry’s presence and decision making is required in the pack office from early to very late, and while Louis wishes it were different, he tells himself to be understanding and patient. It sucks, because he yearns for Harry’s attention and scent and kisses basically the whole day, but he’s strong and if not complaining about everything is the best way to support Harry right now, that’s what he’ll do.

Work is going fine too. Louis got to meet Ed’s brother on Friday afternoon and he’s just as funny as the beta, so if Louis ever has to work with him, that’s not going to be a problem. Everything’s calmed down a bit after Harry’s official statement on Tuesday morning, and most customers coming in are mostly interested in the purchase they’re about to make and not getting the worries off their mind.

Concerning Harry’s and Louis’ relationship - everyone eyes them curiously, more curiously than before, and Louis doesn’t know whether that’s because he keeps coming around to the pack office with food for Harry (that Harry and Louis cooked together the night before) or because maybe Harry addressed that topic publicly. They’re on the blurry line between private and official, but Louis doesn’t mind.

Getting to be touchy with Harry in way that’s more than “whoops I totally didn’t mean to stumble into you” is amazing, especially when the alpha reciprocates the fleeting touches whenever appropriate, keeping a loose arm around Louis’ back when he talks to Liam in the office.

Louis’ also started sleeping over occasionally, but more times than not Harry is in bed later and out of bed earlier than him. There’s always stuff to discuss with Liam, the protectors, other members or Doncaster politicans.

For a change, Saturday morning grants them a bit of time off, Harry having decided to give himself the morning off because a lot of issues and doubts have been cleared and he needs to breathe and sleep before he’s off to Doncaster that afternoon.

That’s how Louis finds himself in Harry’s bed on Saturday morning. Besides working the afternoon shift and attempting to fix them some dinner, Louis didn’t really do much yesterday, so he went to bed early and is feeling wide awake now. Next to him, Harry is fast asleep, a sight that Louis rarely gets to admire. It looks peaceful, the way Harry is lying on his back, breathing out little puffs, curly hair spread wildly on the pillow beneath his head. He’s not wearing a shirt, only black boxer briefs, revealing a good amount of bare skin where the duvet has slipped down low on his upper body.

Louis could look at him for hours. Even if that’s slightly ridiculous. This is everything he wants and way more than he hoped from starting his scenting sessions with Harry. For once, everything seems to be working out somehow.

After a few minutes of staring at Harry with a sappy smile, Louis scoots closer, cuddling up to him. His neck smells amazing, even though it’s not the side his scent glands are located at. Slowly, he runs his fingers through Harry’s tousled hair, then the tattoos under his collar bones. Louis’ gotten way more comfortable with more or less intimate touches the past couple days, because it’s easy to feel at peace around Harry, the alpha always making sure Louis isn’t feeling overwhelmed. He never really is, with him being the one to initiate physical contact most of the time. His body is needy like that, okay?

Silent minutes pass before Harry begins to stir, waking up.

“Morning,” Louis whispers, smile returning as he once again lets his fingers wander through the strand of hair curling on Harry’s forehead.

The alpha mumbles something unintelligible along the lines of “Good morning”, tilting his head to nose along Louis’ neck, making the omega feel giddy. He definitely won’t decline a nice scenting and make out session in bed.

Louis follows Harry suit and tilts his head to kiss him. His skin is so warm despite the rather chilly bedroom air and it immediately swaps over onto Louis. Harry makes a sound that’s somewhere between a sigh and hum, never breaking the kiss. When he lets his lips fall open, Louis uses his chance and deepens the kiss, softly nipping on Harry’s bottom lip until he feels the sensation of Harry’s tongue against his lip.

Time flies by like it has no meaning and they keep kissing until Harry draws back, eyes still lidded but the corners of his mouth turned up. Louis whines at the loss and chases after him, dragging himself partly over Harry when the alpha turns to lie fully on his back again. Supporting him in that movement, Harry places his hand on the omega’s side and pulls him further onto himself so that Louis is lying across Harry’s upper body. He’s about to hook his right leg over Harry as well when he nudges something hard.

It takes a second for Louis’ hazy mind to understand that he’s just bumped into Harry’s morning wood. The quiet moan definitely gives it away. Louis stills.

Beneath him, Harry musters him, pupils dilated and smell getting stronger by the second. He doesn’t say anything and for a second Louis thinks Harry is expecting him to apologise and back off, though the alpha would surely say so if that were the case. So unless Harry tells him to fuck off, Louis will act on this, he decides. They haven’t gotten the chance to go further than kissing due to the lack of joint time, so why not go there now?

Instead of moving to lie next to Harry again, Louis holds the alpha’s gaze and slowly lowers his entire body on him. There’s no evidence of Harry not being on board with this, actually it’s the contrary with the way Harry closes his eyes in pleasure.

Just like every time Louis touches Harry, it feels nothing if not _fantastic_. Breath-taking. World altering, almost. Louis is wearing a sleep shirt and proper pyjama bottoms, serving as a layer of fabric between their skin, but it doesn’t keep him from running his finger tips over Harry’s arms and shoulders. It’s only a mild distraction from what’s going on under the duvet though, because halleljuah, his crotch is rubbing right against Harry’s.

Louis doesn’t like the silence that’s filling the room besides their pants of breath so he leans down to engage Harry in a kiss again. The alpha complies easily, kissing back more frantically now, their lips moving rhythmically against each other. Louis buries his hands in Harry’s hair while Harry’s hands slowly but surely travel down his sides to rest over his hips.

This must be the most aroused Louis’ been since he’s arrived in Holchap. Apart from his heats maybe, but he’s not fully conscious during those, so it doesn’t count. The wilder the kiss becomes, the more the two of them start grinding against each other, moving smoothly like they know the other’s body response by heart.

Harry’s bulge is prominent and very noticeable every time Louis rocks against it to search pleasure, one leg between Harry’s. Heat pools inside Louis, arousal that he’s been ignoring so far that is getting hard to push aside now - in the most literal way.

If it hasn’t been obvious where this is going before, the first drops of slick finally seal the deal. Under no circumstances is Louis going to get up and take a cold shower now to get rid of his boner. This humping is going to end in an orgasm and it’s probably going to be phenomenal.

Harry must be smelling his slick, or at least the very potent smell of Louis’ arousal. Who can blame him though, when it feels so good? Louis almost mewls when they rub their cocks together particularly deliciously, Harry letting out a breathy moan. Good thing he owns a somewhat high-quality bed that’s not going to squeak and creak whenever they move.

Barely aware of anything that’s going on besides _fuck does this feel good_ , Louis registers Harry’s hands sneaking from his hips down to his arse, settling a palm on each cheek. His hands rest there for a second, as if to make sure Louis is okay with this, which he definitely is. He squeezes lightly when Louis doesn’t interrupt him, causing Louis to moan into his mouth at the feeling.

So Louis’ suspicions were right all along. Harry knows how to make him feel good without even thinking about it.

Louis slides his tongue into Harry’s mouth when the alpha finds a steady rhythm of palming at his arse and pulling him forwards to ensure that there’s not a single millimeter between them. A few seconds later, Harry’s index and middle finger slip an inch under his waist band, not pushing it down but teasing.

“May I?” Harry’s voice is raspy from barely having used it today and possibly from their dirty snogging.

Louis hesitates. Does he wants this? Of course he does, somehow. But right now?

“I don’t know,” he mumbles, tucking his face into Harry’s shoulder, breathing in deeply. “I’ve never…like this… you know.”

A thumb wanders over his cheek, making Louis look up. Harry’s eyes are serious. “I’m aware, but I don’t mind.”

And Louis believes that. He considers his options for another second before looking at Harry and nodding firmly. The alpha’s fingers are the only thing Louis is able to focus on, his hard dick almost forgotten. Almost.

A gasp escapes Louis involuntarily when the tip of Harry’s finger first touches his hole. Did this use to feel so intense? Or is Harry just exceptionally skilled at this?

He almost loses himself in the sensation until he realises how slick he really is. Louis can’t help but draw back a bit, slightly weirded out by his own body. Is this normal? He’ll mess up his bottoms and the whole bed sheets this way!

Harry’s finger freezes as soon as he notices. “Are you okay? Do you want to stop?”

Trying to listen to what his body wants, Louis neither nods nor shakes his head. “It feels so… unfamiliar?”

“Unfamiliar good or unfamiliar bad?”

“Good, I think.”

Harry nods, lifting his head from the pillow to sniff at Louis’ scent gland. His hips buck up against Louis’ before he regains control over his body.

“Okay,” he breathes. “Don’t hesitate to tell me the second it doesn’t.”

“I will.”

So the teasing continues. Harry pushes the tip of his finger in, and even one finger feels better than all of Louis’ own. He groans in surprising pleasure, undecided whether to rut down against Harry’s dick or back into the finger, both making his own cock incredible hard.

Louis isn’t going to last long. He comes to that conclusion pretty quickly, the familiar tingling in his lower abdomen not controllable. The neurons in his whole body are _on fire_ , the prickling feeling even reaching his toes and shoulders and face.

With a second finger near his hole, Louis moans again. This is what being intimate with someone should be like.

“I’m going to come,” Louis whispers between sloppy kisses.

Harry doesn’t answer but licks into his mouth, tongue searching his while the alpha ruts his hips up exactly the same time Louis pushes down, pressing their cocks together. Without further stimulation, Louis can’t help but keep his orgasm back, and it’s mind blowing. Way better than he remembers coming when he was human, and even that was spectacularly good sometimes. His toes curl and his legs are shaking and the pleasure is probably written all over his face.

Recovering from the waves of satisfaction, Louis collapses on top of Harry, breathing heavily. His vision is blurry for a second and he closes his eyes. He came pretty quickly, just a few minutes in. Is this something to be embarrassed about?

Burying his head in Harry’s shoulder, Louis mumbles an ashamed “Sorry.”

“What are you apologising for?”

“For… you know.” Louis cringes.

“Coming?” Harry’s voice is surprisingly controlled, unwavering. “Louis, you haven’t even been an omega for three full months. You’re still new to the whole concept and I don’t expect you to already have your body figured out.”

Louis blushes where he’s still pressing his face against Harry’s skin so that the alpha can’t see his face. He can’t help but smile though. “Okay.” A second later he adds “thank you” ever so quietly.

Harry noses along his neck, laughing slightly. “Nothing to thank me for, babe.”

Great orgasms and cheesy pet names? Louis really did luck out with Harry. How did he get someone this beautiful and genuine and _wanted_ to spend his little free time with him, a former human that’s still mostly clueless about pretty much everything? He must’ve done something incredibly right in his past life or whatever influences karma.

Louis almost gets lost in his head until he feels Harry shift beneath him. Harry’s cock is still hard, reminding the omega of what they’d been doing just a couple minutes ago. It’s messy and not a very pleasant feeling, the drying slick and come in his pants, but that’s not the priority right now.

“Oh fuck, sorry!” he scrambles up to give Harry the opportunity to breathe. The alpha must catch the way Louis is eyeing his crotch, the duvet having fallen off with Louis’ rapid movements.

“Calm down, you’re good,” Harry assures him. “I don’t expect anything in return.”

Wordlessly, Louis lies down next to him, mustering Harry’s eyes, his dilated pupils and swollen lips. He places his warm palm on Harry’s stomach.

“I think I… can I?”

He doesn’t need to form a full sentence because both of them understand what he’s asking.

Harry nods. “Yeah.”

Hesitantly, Louis moves his hand downwards to Harry’s dick. The black briefs are heavily tented, wet where his cock is releasing pre-come. Louis’ hand hovers above it for a second before softly stroking the bulge, making Harry hiss instantly. Alpha anatomy was briefly covered in his integration classes, and Harry surely doesn’t disappoint, meeting the size Louis expected. If he weren’t feeling so fucked out, his mouth would definitely water at even just the feeling beneath his palm.

He thumbs over the head, strokes down the shaft until he gets familiar with Harry’s dick. It’s always a thrilling event, touching someone like this for the first time. Harry seems to feel similar, Louis notices, from the way his face contorts, lips pressing together to hold back a moan.

“You can take them off if you want,” Harry breathes when Louis looks up to check if he’s doing a decent job.

The omega hesitates for a second before following Harry’s suggestion, hooking his fingers under the waist band and pulling his briefs down enough for his cock to spring free. It must feel good for Harry to be freed from the restricting piece of clothing as he lets out a relieved sigh while Louis is lost in thought, carefully brushing over the red skin. Harry’s so hard, it must feel both really good but also really on edge at this point.

Louis isn’t a champion at giving hand jobs, but he’s not completely unskilled either. He knows what he enjoys when he wanks and he’s a quick learner, registering attentively which movements get good and which movements get _very good_ reactions from Harry. The longer Louis continues his jerking, the sloppier Harry’s rutting up to meet his hand gets, losing rhythm.

Harry’s moans are perfect, if you can say that. They’re not over the top, not too loud or too fake, they’re completely authentic and so dirty. Internally Louis’ omega is jumping in joy because _he’ll get to hear this in the future_. This is the guy he’s going to be intimate with from now on, and it’s better than he expected even now, when’s he’s just giving Harry a lousy handjob.

It’s predictable when Harry’s about to orgasm because he groans loudly, hissing when Louis thumbs over his sensitive head again, then he’s finally coming as well. The base of his dick swells up, not like a proper knot that would form during penetrative sex, but still a very noticable swelling. From what it looks, Harry’s orgasm is very enjoyable as well, but a tiny insecurity remains.

“Was that okay?” Louis asks tentatively when he thinks Harry is back in a state to respond.

Harry is still trying to catch a breath but places a soft kiss to Louis’ mouth anyway. “Definitely.”

They don’t leave the bed for another hour and even then it’s only because it feels utterly disgusting to keep lying in their own filth. It’s without question one of the best mornings Louis’ had in Holchap so far.

Unfortunately, just because their personal life is on a high, it doesn’t mean the pack’s problems are suddenly solved. Despite Louis’ semi-serious complaints and whines, Harry is off to Doncaster again that afternoon. Some negotiations about bilteral rights are being discussed, Harry says. Louis is surprised when the alpha trusts him with these information, even though they may not be necessarily secret. But it still feels so good that Harry accepts him as a full pack member. Not that Louis ever got the feeling that Harry doesn’t.

Louis spends the day reading and then around 3pm he realises he needs to stock up on groceries, so he gets up and out. Usually Louis enjoys walking everywhere but occasionally it can be a bit annoying, especially when he plans to buy a week worth of groceries. Luckily, the supermarket isn’t that far.

Holchap isn’t that big, which in turn also means there aren’t too many grocery stores around, so naturally it’s packed on a Saturday afternoon. Internally Louis groans when he’s queueing up for the check out. He should’ve waited for later in the evening, when families with little kids and strollers aren’t here.

After everything is safely stored in his ruckbag, Louis makes his way out of the store. With ear buds in his ears he’s taking big steps to head home when someone suddenly catches his eyes to his right. It’s Gigi, pushing a stroller with little Mavis sleeping inside. Instantly, Louis scolds himself mentally for judging parents with their little children in the supermarket.

Instead of carrying on walking home, Louis approaches her, seeing a smile spread on her face when she recognises him.

“Hi,” Louis says.

“Hey! Grocery shopping day?”

“Yep,” Louis confirms and points to the straps of his ruckbag. “My fridge is a desert. You too?”

Gigi shakes her head and looks down to her daughter. “No, we’re just going for an afternoon walk.”

“Cool. We need to take advantage of the weather,” Louis nods.

“Exactly! You know what, we’ll just walk you home if you don’t mind.”

Louis shakes his head, showing he certainly doesn’t mind, and smiles widely. “I don’t!”

So the two of them head off in the direction of Louis’ flat. From afar, it could look like they’re a small new family, mum, dad and baby. Especially humans would probably assume that. But everyone they meet on the way knows either Louis through his recent connection to Harry, or Gigi because she’s been with Zayn for a solid while. It’s not issue in the end, and that’s pleasant.

They catch up on everything that’s been going on. Louis deliberately avoids any tricky topics like Cowell and Doncaster, for one because he doesn’t know how much Gigi is aware of the situation and doesn’t want to worry the beta, but also because he doesn’t like thinking about it right now. Sometimes he just needs a break from these daunting aspects.

Gigi talks about her mum and Zayn and Mavis of course, her development in the past couple days and what she’s able to do already. Also that Gigi is back to pre-baby weight, which is a surprising confession for Louis, but he doesn’t mind. He loves when people are honest and open without oversharing too much, and conversational topics like these make him feel properly accepted.

Their walk isn’t too long and the contents of his rucksack are getting heavy when he’s close to the living residency, so decide to cut it here but meet up for another walk with Mavis as soon as possible. Louis’ in a significantly better mood when he’s storing his groceries away than he was when he left the store.

The rest of the day, Louis doesn’t hear anything from Harry. It must be a tight schedule in Doncaster. Late at night, almost as midnight, Harry texts him that he’s back in Holchap, so Louis short handedly decides to call his boyfriend (or whatever they are at this point).

“Hello?” Harry sounds tired.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” Harry repeats with a sigh. “Is there an important reason why you’re calling?” It doesn’t sound mean or annoyed, necessarily, but it still makes Louis’ stomach twist a bit. Maybe he should’ve waited until the morning to call Harry.

“Uh, no,” he admits. “Just wanted to ask how it went, how you’re doing.”

“I’m exhausted.” Louis can picture Harry running a hand through his hair, eyes blinking slowly after the long day he’s had.

“I can imagine. I’ll let you rest then. Are you busy tomorrow?”

“We need to prepare the press release,” Harry says instead of “yes, I’m busy.” Louis had already expected something like that, though it still feels like Harry sounds slightly more distant than usually.

“Okay, sure.” Louis swallows and keeps his voice controlled. It’s late at night so naturally he’s feeling more emotional about this. In the morning, everything will seem more reasonable. He’ll find another activity for the day. Maybe Niall is up to some footie?

“Well then, have a good night and sleep well,” Louis adds.

“Good night, Louis.”

Niall and Louis do indeed meet up the next day while both Harry and probably Liam as well are working on an official statement summarising the negotiations with Doncaster. To a certaint extent Louis is happy he’s not involved in that, because he does treasure his free time on the weekend. Pack alpha or pack beta is just a neverending job.

The two omegas play footie for a good two hours, even though it’s mostly just passing the ball or practising goals from various angles because it’s just the two of them. When they’re both sweaty and physically drained, they zip up their tracksuit top and sit down on a bench on the side line of the footie pitch. Niall the saint has prepared sandwiches at home and they both hungrily devour them.

Niall is currently munching on a ham and mustard sandwich when Louis is swallowing the last bites of his egg salad one when he finally dares to start the conversation he’s been meaning to initiate for a while now.

“How dangerous do you think the situation is right now, with the pack and Doncaster? Honest answer.”

For a second, Niall stops chewing before picking up again and gesturing to his mouth. Even after swallowing the rest, he doesn’t answer immeaditely.

“I can’t really tell. From what I’ve gathered from both Liam and Harry, it’s tricky and we definitely need to keep an eye on certain people.”

Louis nods, encouring Niall to keep going.

“But yeah, I don’t think I’m a good judge on the seriousness of this. I’m not involved politically, I don’t deal with the humans.” The omega looks over to Louis. “Why though? Have there been more instances like the threat? Or the flyers?”

Instantly, Louis shakes his head. “No, no. I’m just… worried, you know.”

Niall nods before turning his head, staring across the pitch. “Yeah. We’ll see how both our pack and Doncaster react when the mutual negotiations are made public in the press release tomorrow. I know Liam’s worried about that.”

Louis takes Liam for a cautious and worrying character, but it’s still unsettling to hear that.

“Do you think things are going to escalate? Or have they in the past?”

Niall’s mouth twists, one of his eyebrows drawn down. “It’s hard to tell. There have been uproars during the transition between Des and Rob and then Rob and Harry, and a little after that. Back then, both died down naturally, but it’s a bit different this time.” He reaches for a new sandwich and closes the lid on the tupperware to prevent bugs from snacking on their food. “It’s not internal, it’s against Doncaster or humans in general, and that’s an ideal enemy image.”

Instead of replying, Louis stays quiet. There’s a lot he could say, but none of it feels like it would help or contribute objectively. Niall seems to pick up on Louis’ inner turmoil because he looks over to him when he’s taking a big bite.

“But I’m positive Harry will handle it professionally. He’s an amazing pack alpha, in my opinion.”

And yeah, that’s the only calming aspect of this. Harry _is_ a good pack alpha. Okay, maybe Louis is slightly biased on that, but so far he hasn’t heard of any big mistakes or misstep Harry was responsible for, so that’s saying something. Leading a pack, even as small as Holchap, can’t be an easy task, especially at that young age.

Louis doesn’t even realise how dopely he’s smiling when he’s agreeing with Niall. The other omega hollers a laugh though.

“Yeah, I can imagine that you’d think the same,” he teases.

“Don’t you start that! I may not have been here for long, but I’m perceptive, and my perceptive eyes are telling me you and Liam are shagging!”

Niall the wanker doesn’t answer, just grins. Which isn’t satisfying to Louis. He wants the whole exposure feeling.

“Aren’t you going to try and deny it?” he pokes.

“Why would I?” Niall grins smugly. “Liam’s too good to be denied.”

Louis puts his hands over his ears, pretending to block out everything Niall is saying on that matter. “I don’t want to hear it!”

“You’re literally banging my pack alpha!” Niall fires back.

“Okay, let’s stop this right here!”

Early the next morning, a cloudy Monday morning, a press release on the recent local political events is being published. Louis knows that in Doncaster, the city’s newspaper is going to feature it somewhere in the last third of their print. Or maybe that’s changed since he’s been in Holchap, with the newly developing tension and everything.

The village of Holchap is too small for their own newspaper though, so Louis learns that news are posted on bulletin boards all over the village. He’s never noticed the big red board next to the supermarket he frequents, or on the side outside of the western wall of the Pack office. It’s a clever way to distribute important news, and thanks to the familiar vibes of Holchap, everyone who doesn’t read the bulletin board updates will probably hear about breaking news through oral propaganda.

This Saturday’s results aren’t received well by some people, it seems. Louis hasn’t been aware of what exactly the outcome is because he only texted Harry shortly yesterday, after he’d had three beers with Niall and returned home slightly tipsy. Harry had been busy in the pack office the whole day anyway.

But now, it would’ve been nice to be aware of what’s going on within the pack and outside, because Louis runs into a demonstration on the market square on his way home from the bookstore. This is the last thing he expected to encounter today.

The stage, or rather the two garden tables that are pushed together, isn’t very high or professional, but it does its just because the two man on top of them are visible from afar. They’re both talking into a megaphone but judging by their echo, they must be cheap. Louis can only make out their words when he’s close enough.

“The human traitors want us dead! They want to annex our land and extend Doncaster!”

That must be Cowell, then. Or Winston.

A crowd of about fifty, sixty people is gathered around the two men on their tables and Louis looks around to get an impression. Are all these people agreeing with what they’re saying? Or are there undecided pack members as well? Or people like Louis, who think this is utter bullshit?

As it turns out, Louis finds at least one person of the latter category, because he surprisingly spots Niall a few minutes later. He’s with a footie friend that Louis periphally recognises when he approaches the two men.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

Niall doesn’t greet him, and the other man, a beta, only nods to Louis to acknowledge his presence.

“Those are Simon Cowell and Ben Winston,” Niall explains with a hushed and strained voice. “Fuckers.”

“I figured. What are they doing here?”

“This is the result of Saturday’s negotiations. Doncaster wants to restrict pack members from turning into humans, because they’re _dirty_ or something. So Cowell and Winston are stirring up hatred against them.”

“And Harry simply agreed to the restrictions?” Louis isn’t fully informed on that matter, but even from his point of view, going along with these demands seems risky.

“He had to.” Niall’s jaw is tense. “Or Doncaster would’ve cut our petrol supply.”

Louis is shocked and faces the omega next to him. People around them are clapping and cheering, so Cowell must’ve made some point.

“That’s blackmailing.”

Niall shrugs. “That’s politics.”

The beta friend of Niall that’s been quietly following their informational exchange speaks up. “Simon and Ben in return demand to close the borders for humans. Deny them the possibility to turn into pack members as an act of revenge.”

“Which is dangerous, because our ancestors have fought many bloody battles to come to the peaceful together we have today. Isolating ourselves isn’t a good idea. Doncaster and Holchap are still under the same communal government after all, so this could swap over onto higher political instances.”

The elderly woman next to them eyes them with disgust and shushes them, probably with a few curse words as well. She seems to fully believe the radical words that are leaving Cowell’s mouth.

“So they just went and organised a demonstration on the market square?”

“Yes,” the nameless beta confirms.

Louis musters the two men, what he can see of them. The grey haired man with the short arms has the biggest share of speech. Next to him, the brunette guy is nodding along, shoulders squared. They make a strong pair, and it’s convenient, Louis thinks. A pair of leaders has an entirely different impression on the population than just one bitter old man spewing his tirade of hate.

Still, it doesn’t mean the content is anything Louis would ever go along with. Currently they’re shouting about how many humans from Doncaster and other cities have immigrated and turned in just the past twenty years. In Louis’ opinion the number is still way smaller than expected. And they definitely don’t pose a danger on anyone. He himself even contributes to a functional coexistence!

“How do we know the turned humans aren’t spying on us? Percentage-wise, at least three traitors must be among them!” Cowell continues.

Louis has to refrain from growling. He’s never growled like Harry or any alpha before, mostly because he hasn’t had a reason, but now he feels like he needs to defend himself and other transfromed pack members.

“And if you take one look into the history books, you’ll know what damage one single traitor can do! Now imagine three!” Winston adds.

Louis is about to get going and push the two men from their tables so they’ll fall on their head (best case), but Niall grabs his arms, preventing him from making his way to the crowd.

“What’s your plan?” Niall hisses.

“Someone needs to end this fucking bullshit.”

“Yeah, but not _you_!” The omega stares at Louis intently.

“I don’t see anyone else stepping up here! So who else is going to do it?” Louis stops for a second to make a point, gesturing around them. Niall stays quiet. “They’re intentionally baiting against _me_ , Niall, against people like me! I’m not going to stand here and let that happen.”

Niall’s friend glances at them, probably worried that they’ll start a fight right here. They won’t, because deep down Louis knows that Niall is on his side, that the omega detests everything being said on stage. Still, it bugs Louis that no one is taking action.

“Harry is going to shut it down.”

Louis’ eyebrows rise in disbelief. “Yeah? Well I don’t see him anywhere.”

“Trust me.”

It takes two minutes until Harry suddenly appears by the self-made stage, a megaphone in his hand and Bobby Horan by his side. Of course he wouldn’t turn up without a protector - that’s probably reasonable because the willingness to aggression of the present is not estimable.

“This demonstration is not registered and will therefore be terminated shortly by the protectors of the pack Holchap. I refer to the paragraph fourteen of the pack order, which determines that

demonstrations of all kinds must be granted at least two days before taking place.”

Harry’s voice is controlled, neutral and assertive. This is the pack alpha of Holchap speaking, not twenty-two year old Harry, not the alpha who’s cuddled Louis to sleep before, not the boyfriend that cooks dinner for them. No, this is a professional political leader making decisions and speaking to his pack. Louis gulps.

The reaction by the listening crowd is two-sided. Half of the people don’t seem to mind, either removing themselves from the market square without further instructions or simply lingering around to see what’s going to happen in case this ecalates. The other group is searching exactly for this confrontation. They’re booing loudly, enraged about Harry announcing the end of the spontaneous demonstration.

A good dozen protectors, including Liam, start talking to the people and request them to leave peacefully. Most follow the instructions more or less annoyed, but two or three need to be physically guided away. Louis is stunned into silence, in the most negative way. This is not the Holchap he first encountered after turning, not the ancient, peaceful market place he admired during his first week and every other time he’d walked across it.

Cowell and Winston unwillingly step down, visibly pissed off by their pack leader. Cowell hisses something without doubt deeply offending towards Harry before backing off. Harry’s face is unreadable from what Louis can see, he’s still standing a couple feet away. Apparently he’d been staring a little too much though, because Simon Cowell is walking his way. Is there a hint of a smirk playing around his lips or is Louis just scared and paranoid?

“Louis Tomlinson,” Simon Cowell approaches him. How the fuck does this man know his full name? Can he look into that? He’s not working in the pack office, is he?

“I’m sorry, I must’ve missed your name,” Louis puts on a brave face.

“Simon Cowell. It’s a _pleasure_.” The way he emphasises the word, it definitely isn’t.

Louis doesn’t reply. He has a lot to say to Cowell, but he’s above this. He’s not going to start a fight here. So he just stays quiet.

“I’m surprised to find _you_ here. People like usually don’t engage in highly important political affairs like these.” He talks like Louis is dumb. “Though you’re not stranger to affairs, I’m guessing? In the political field, I mean.” He winks exaggeratedly. “You know, with Harry…”

“That’s Pack Alpha Styles to you,” Niall snarls.

Louis continues his game of playing unbothered, though. He shrugs. “I never turn down some free entertainment in the afternoon.”

Cowell growls, though not in a protective but rather an intimidating way. “Watch your mouth, human, and know your place. You’re in no position to speak up.”

Before Louis can open his mouth to defend himself, Harry’s voice suddenly sounds. “He’s a pack member, not a human, and I _strongly_ advise you to stop threatening the omegas of our pack. Am I understood?”

Louis is aware how serious the whole situation is, but Harry stepping up for him definitely is sexy and makes his omega tingle. He can defend himself, but having Harry’s support doesn’t hurt.

Simon’s head snaps around to the pack alpha, the growl not ebbing away. “You’re a joke of a pack alpha, you’re a dictator just like the weakling before you was.”

Harry’s upper body is squared, physically hovering above Simon’s height. “Please remove yourself from the market square now or the protectors will do so.”

“This today? This was censorship. You’re cutting your pack’s freedom, our freedom of speech. And it’s going to have consequences, believe me. People are going to realise who you are, _Styles_.”

Once again, Harry doesn’t let the provoking words get to him. He exchanges a look with Bobby Horan, who’s still by his side, and the protector is grabbing Simon by the arm the next second. Cowell scowls one last time before turning around, shaking off hand on his arm and stalking away.

Everything that’s happened in the past thirty minutes feels like a bad film, or a slightly chaotic nightmare maybe. Everyone in their near vicinity stays quiet for a couple seconds until Simon Cowell and also Ben Winston are out of hearing range. As soon as the crowd around them slowly but surely dissolves, a collective sigh of relief is heard.

“Are you okay?” Harry doesn’t address anyone in particular, but everyone knows his main focus is on Louis.

“That prick, I swear,” Niall says angrily. The beta next to him nods, agreeing with an “I can’t believe that just happened.”

Harry’s eyes stay on Louis though, until the omega returns eye contact. Pressing his lips together, he nods curtly. “Yeah. He was just being rude.”

Rationally Louis knows that this interaction with Cowell should’ve probably been avoided. He probably made himself more of a target by being spotted at the demonstration _and_ talking back to Cowell. Louis doesn’t know how much of that Harry heard, but he probably isn’t amused by it if he was close enough to pick up on their conversation.

But Louis isn’t the only one with a developing problem with Cowell and Winston. Because in the end, Cowell is right. Harry was the one to make the decision and dissolve the demonstration. Which wasn’t registered correctly, yes, but not everyone case about legal regulations. It’s no secret that _something_ is going to follow up.

Harry sighs, body a little less tense. “I need to talk to Bobby and Jeff. I think those idiots left the tables behind.”

“At least they’ll need to organise new ones if they ever want to pull a stunt like that again,” the unknown beta remarks, but it’s not offering enough consolation.

For a second Louis considers simply going home and trying to process today’s events and maybe clean his bathroom, but if he’s honest to himself, he wants to be close to Harry. Be comforted and maybe attempt to comfort him in return.

With Niall and his friend being the only ones around, Louis dares to address Harry on that matter.

“Can I come back to yours?”

Harry’s face contorts in a thoughtful manner. “Not right now. There’s a few things that I need to deal with.” Louis almost expected that, and nods understanding, though hiding his disappointment is difficult.

“How about you go home and I’ll pick you up when I’m done here?” Harry proposes then.

“Sure, yeah.” Louis refuses to blush. There’s nothing embarrassing or shameful about this. And it’s no one business where Harry or him spend their freetime.

“Alright, then I’ll see you later.” Harry smiles slightly. “Get home safely everyone.”

Two hours of sitting in his flat pass until Louis’ bell rings and indicates Harry’s arrival. Louis buzzes him in and a minute later the alpha is standing in front of his door. He doesn’t move to untie his shoes or slip off his jacket, so Louis takes that as a confirmation that they’ll be going back to Harry’s. They usually do. It probably has a few reasons, one of them being the better privacy in Harry’s flat because the walls in Louis’ living residency _are_ thin. Also Louis suspects that Harry’s alpha simply prefers being at home, surrounded by his own permeating scent. Prefers Louis being there as well.

“You can pack a bag if you want, sleep over at mine,” Harry says after they’ve kissed hello as soon as the door was closed. It’s still unfamiliar, but amazing every time around. Harry kissing him. Harry embracing him. Harry scenting him too, of course.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry nods, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket. It’s olive green and a soft material and Louis loves it. It makes the alpha’s eyes pop and it just looks good. One day he’ll borrow (or steal) it. “I can walk you to work in the morning, too. If you have an early shift?”

“I do, yeah.”

Harry smiles. His face screams exhaustion and he’s been up and busy for many stressful hours, but hearing that still seems to make him content. “Good, then that’s settled.”

Louis busies himself with packing. He walks to his wardrobe and pulls out some underwear, socks, a new shirt to wear tomorrow to work, a pair of jeans. Jumper wise he’s probably going to sneak something from Harry which he’s recently worn but still is clean enough to wear to work. His wash bag is next and the only thing missing now is his heat regulators. That’s a talk he hasn’t had with Harry yet, and Louis knows Niall is all about preaching how everything concerning bodies and sexuality is natural, but it still feels like an awkward topic.

Walking over to his night stand, Louis opens the drawer and produces the bottle of heat regulators that Dr. Miller prescribed him. It’s unnecessary to bring the whole bottle when he can just take the pill right here and not worry about it for the rest of the night, so he does just that. Louis pops the pill into his mouth and swallows big gulps of water to overcome the feeling that the medication is stuck in his throat. The whole time, he feels Harry’s eyes on him, watching his every move.

“What’s that?”

“Heat regulators.” Louis blushes and turns to shuffle through his ruckbag as if he were checking whether anything’s amiss. He knows there isn’t, but he just wants to avoid Harry’s eyes right now.

“Heat regulators or suppressants?”

“Heat regulators,” Louis repeats matter-of-factly, because he knows what he’s talking about. He may not have been an omega for long, but he looks up the effect of drugs before stuffing them down his throat.

Harry nods. “And have you talked about birth control to your omega specialist before?”

Louis quivers at that ever so slightly. “I tried. Dr. Miller didn’t want to prescribe them to me.”

Harry’s eyebrows knit. “Why?”

“I don’t know. He was a bit … judgey about it.”

The issue with being close to Harry is that any negative thing he says about any pack member feels like snitching to the authorities, and Louis definitely isn’t like that. But Harry’s his boyfriend of some sort, so filling him in on important topics like birth control probably isn’t a bad idea.

“Mh,” Harry makes. “You can switch doctors if you don’t feel comfortable around him. Karen is a great doctor for a second opinion. Or you could transfer to her completely. That’s your choice.”

Louis zips up his backpack because this conversation is happening either way. “Isn’t that kind of awkward though?”

“For whom?”

“You? Me? Karen? Everyone, I don’t know, it’s a weird constellation.”

“Karen is committed to medical confidentiality, so this is only about you and her, not me. And if I think Niall is going to her as well, so that’s probably the peak of _weird constellation_.”

Louis laughs. He’s not looked at it like that before. Niall is getting railed by Liam on the regular but still is in Karen’s medical care. Not everyone would feel as unbothered by that as him.

“That’s true, yeah.”

“But as I said, it’s completely your choice,” Harry repeats with a serious face.

Louis buckles up his rucksack after pulling on a jacket. “Okay.” He checks his trouser’s pockets for his keys. “I’m ready to go.”

Both of them are tired when they finally arrive at Harry’s flat a good half hour later and no one is in the mood to stand in the kitchen and cook, so they decide on ordering in. Harry knows a good place and lets Louis check the online menu before calling them. Delivery is going to be a while, which Louis whines about, but at least it’s still quicker than in Doncaster due to the short distances.

They settle on the couch to bridge the food-less time, the telly on because it feels weird to sit there in complete silence. Maybe it would feel good to grant their ears a break, but the volume is turned down and neither of them are focusing on the programme anyway, so it’s okay.

Cuddling is nothing new to them, so their bodies mold together like muscle memory, Harry’s arm around him, Louis leaning against his side. The omega doesn’t know whether it’s the stress, but Harry’s calming pheromones aren’t as prominent in the air, and that’s a shame. He still smells fantastic, but it’s like he’s unconsciously holding himself back.

Harry rolls his head back multiple times, sways it from side to side and rubs at his right shoulder after repositioning himself.

“You’re so tense,” Louis whispers after a couple minutes of observing the twitchty alpha. This isn’t like the time Louis was close to his heat, where his omega pheromones were playing games with his alpha body, this looks like his muscles are bothering him.

“Feel like that too,” Harry groans when neck makes a cracking noise. “Didn’t sleep well last night either.”

Louis presses a shy kiss to his shoulder. “Hope that’ll be different tonight.”

“I’m a hundred percent sure it will,” Harry replies and tightens the arm around him, kissing the side of his head. Kisses in pack life are similar to kisses in Louis’ human life, but somehow it still feels more intimate. Or maybe that’s just because everything with Harry feels intimate and _great_.

“I could massage you,” Louis offers and it sounds more like a question.

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’m no expert, but I could try?”

Harry musters him. “You want to massage me?”

Louis shrugs, not meeting his eyes. “It was just an offer, of course you don’t have to accept that.”

“No, I,” Harry falters, face still looking puzzled. “Sure, yeah, why not. Can’t get much worse anyway.”

Louis snorts. “Good to hear I can’t worsen the damage. Now turn around.”

The alpha pushes himself upright and shuffles around so that he’s sitting cross-legged on the couch, back to Louis.

“You can stop any time.”

“I haven’t even started, and now shush,” Louis teases and places his hands on Harry’s shoulders. “Where’s it hurting exactly?”

“Everywhere basically. But especially middle to lower back and the transition between shoulder and neck.”

Louis starts and tries to work his fingers into Harry’s lower back, with little to no success. “This isn’t working like this. You’re straining your muscles too much. Can you lay down?”

“Sure.” Harry sorts his legs out before lying down on his stomach.

_How am I going to do this now?_ It’d be awkward to stand next to Harry, between the couch and the coffee table, and massage him side ways, but everything else would require massive physical contact and Louis doesn’t know whether Harry is up for that. He signed up for a relaxing massage, not sandwiching.

Louis must be caught up in his thoughts for a second too long because when he snaps back to reality, he notices Harry looking over his shoulder and watching at him with an amused look. “You can touch me, you know? Massages require that anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Louis jumps into motion. He hops onto the couch and hovers above Harry’s bum for a second before sitting down. This way he can reach both the lower back and his shoulders and neck quite well, so it is a good solution. Still he can’t help but blush and focus on the fact that he’s literally sitting on top of Harry.

“You don’t need to do this, Louis,” Harry repeats when Louis still hasn’t started touching him half a minute later.

“No, but I want to,” Louis says in the most determined tone he can muster up. “You deserve this. And now shut up unless you feel like I’m breaking your back or something.”

Harry chuckles but obeys, head resting on his folded arms as Louis gets to work. He starts out slow, pressing his thumbs into Harry’s lower back. When he finds especially painful knows and tries to rub them away, he occasionally feels Harry move beneath him.

It gets trickier when Louis’ hands wander up to his shoulders. They’re incredibly tense and he does his best to ease the tension, but he’s no physiotherapist. He tries to be gentle when he gets close to Harry’s neck, and the alpha groans silently in relief whenever he kneads the skin there.

Harry’s scent gets increasingly stronger and at a certaint point it’s noticable for both of them, no matter how much Louis tries to focus on his job. When he’s treated every muscle that Harry complained about once, he switches to more generic stroking patterns, massaging from his back up to his shoulders and back down. Louis’ whole body rocks forward and backwards and he strictly bans every thought along the line of _I’m totally grinding against Harry right now_.

For the longest time, Louis is under the impression that Harry, besides the more prominent scent that could be increasing due to relaxtation for all he knows, is uneffected. Sure, his left leg twitches once or twice, and he moves his head occasionally, but nothing out of the ordinary. Until at one particular bounce of Louis on top of him, Harry moans. The omega stills immediately, not knowing how to categorise the sound he’s just heard. Beneath him, Harry shifts and turns his head to face Louis. His face looks wrinkled after resting it on his arms, but his pupils are blown and he licks his lips.

“Everything okay?” Louis checks, his voice scratchy.

“Yeah, I…” Harry doesn’t finish the sentence, instead tries to roll over so that he’s lying on his back. When Louis understands what he’s doing, he lifts himself up and scrambles back but Harry’s quicker and pulls him down onto him.

With Louis now lying between Harry’s spread legs, he can see, _feel_ , why Harry turned around. The alpha is on a good way to becoming hard.

Louis is pretty sure that Harry knows that the omega is aware of his situation down there, yet he stays still and simply stares him into eyes. Unknowing what to do or say, Louis leans down, closing the distance between their lips and Harry meets him halfway. The first kiss in the position is soft, warm and _so_ good. Louis nibs on Harry’s upper lip, until the alpha’s had enough and opens his mouth to lick across Louis’ lips, the first step to deepening their kiss.

Harry’s fully hard a few minutes later, Louis getting there as well, and he almost thinks they’re avoiding the elephant in the room when Harry lets out a breathy moan as Louis shifts slightly on top of him. His eyes close, cheeks rosy and he stuffs his nose into Louis’ neck, inhaling deeply.

“I can’t help myself,” Harry whispers, his voice raunchy.

“You don’t know how much of a compliment that is to me,” Louis replies honestly. It feels unbelievable to know and feel how much Harry wants him, gets turned on by him.

They don’t continue their partly chaste kisses after that, instead they’re diving right into full on snogging the second Harry sneaks one hand down to Louis’ arse. Within minutes they’re grinding against each other dirtily, Louis’ leg hooked around Harry for better leverage and both of them licking into the other’s mouth. And holy shit does it feel good.

Harry is bucking up, Louis is trying to press down his hips in all the right places and it’s about to shift into the _really_ frantic stage of dry humping themslves to a messy mutual orgasm on Harry’s couch when suddenly an unexpected noise interrupts them. The door bell.

“Ahh no,” Harry growls. Louis mewls when the alpha tightens his arm around him, effectively pressing him right down against Harry’s rock hard cock.

“Harry, it’s the food,” Louis breathes.

“I know, fuck the food.” Harry continues to rub his teasing index finger along Louis’ crack. There’s two layers of fabric between his finger and Louis’ hole, but they can both feel how undeniably slick Louis is. The omega needs to get a grip here or they really are going to let the poor delivery guy stand in front of the door.

“As much as I want to continue this,” Louis is interrupted by Harry bucking his hips up once again, “you know we need to get the food. And pay for it.”

Harry keeps quiet for a couple seconds before sighing in self-pity. “Okay. Bloody cock-block.”

Louis snorts amused as he pushes himself up. “You ordered the food.”

“I know,” Harry sighs again, taking another second before reluctantly sitting up. His dick is straining agains the jeans he’s wearing and it looks painful how hard he is.

“I can’t go to the door like this,” he says as he stands up and tries to adjust himself more or less successful. The trousers leave little to the imagination. The doorbell rings again.

“Coming!” Harry shouts and Louis laughs at the irony.

“Well, I can’t exactly go to the door like this either,” Louis gestures wildly. “I look destroyed and I smell like you and I’m… you know, wet.”

Apparently it’s a no brainer for Harry to go open the door upon hearing that. He grabs his wallet and angles himself so that his lower body is hidden behind the door when he accepts the food and hands the delivery girl a generous tip.

When Harry drops the food onto the kitchen table, Louis snickers at his grim facial expression. Shamelessly, Harry grabs his cock through his trousers and Louis’ not sure if he’s doing that to pickup where they left off or to readjust himself once again.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind finishing what we started,” Louis says where he’s sitting on the edge of the couch, a blanket beneath him so his slick won’t stain Harry’s furniture.

“We can eat, if you want to,” Harry offers but his whole body screams that this is not what he wants.

“No, I’m surprisingly not hungry right now.”

Without further hesitation, Harry struts over with big steps and launches himself at the omega. They both end up with unzipped trousers pushed down enough to stuff their hands into the other’s pants. Harry’s big, warm hands feel incredible around his cock and they sure do know how to satifsy an omega. The alpha seems to be enjoying himself as well though, judging from the uncontrolled movements of his hips and the lewd moans escaping his mouth.

Needless to say, they both sleep like babies that night.

Over the next couple days and weeks, things between Holchap and Doncaster get progressively worse. No other demonstration happens, thank god, but Cowell and co want to forbid turned humans to contact humans in the cities, especially Doncaster. If somehow possible, they also intend to restrict visits to Doncater. Which effectively would lock Louis and fellow turned humans in.

Cowell’s propaganda has unfortunately moved from the market square to social media, where it’s even harder to control, but Liam and the force of assigned pack members are keeping an observant eye on it. Packs all over England and the world use typical human social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, but Louis learns that packs have their own social media as well. He promises himself to ask Niall further about that, if the omega has any accounts.

**“Best case: make all turned humans leave Holchap! We don’t need potential traitors. Holchap pack members are loyal folks!”**

This social media post by Ben Winston is the most recent cause of uproar amongst the pack office and everyone involved. Louis barely openly talks about it to his friends, maybe Niall or Ed very occasionally, but it hurts so much to be in the line of fire like that.

A good week later, on Sunday morning, Louis is awaking in Harry’s bed. They had a chill night in with too many sweets and trash telly that no one paid attention too and a messy handjob later in bed, with two fingers of Harry’s teasing Louis’ hole. He falls asleep fully satisfied and for those peaceful hours, the omega is almost able to forget about the hate and rage that’s going on down in the street.

He talked to Niall about omega specialists a few days back and the omega recommended simply calling Karen. Louis still felt slightly awkward so he waited until Harry left for the pack office one morning so he’d be alone when making the phone call. Karen was nice and understanding about it, reassuring him and calming his nerves. She offered him an appointment two days later and Louis went through the examination and an half-hour talk about his bodily development as well as the differences between medications. In the end, Louis goes home with a prescription for birth control and more heat regulators. 

When he first blinks his eyes open this morning, Louis feels disorientated and drowsy but soon realises it’s two voices to sounding through the flat. It’s Liam and Harry, he can tell. Their voices are muffled, so they’re probably in the kitchen or living room.

“We need a decision on that though, Harry.”

“I know, Liam, believe me, I know. What am I supposed to do though? I’m as helpless and overwhelmed as you when it comes to this.”

The two pack leaders are not full on arguing, but it seems to be a serious discussion nonetheless. Louis sits up and sorts out the blanket that’s tangled around his legs.

“We just need to approach this as rationally and objectively as possible. We’ll find a decent solution, we always have so far.”

For a second it’s silent. “Are you implying something there? Because with deepest respect, you don’t get it Liam. A room down the hallway, there’s an omega lying in my bed. An omega who’s in the middle of our issue and I don’t fucking know where my head is at.”

Louis shivers at Harry’s protective words.

“I understand that. But Harry, you need to decide and move with the entire pack in mind,” Liam says neutrally. Harry’s answer is mumbled and Louis doesn’t understand everything of it.

“… so that’s easy for you to say because you’re not in my situation.”

Louis sits completely still to eavesdrop what comes next. “As I said, I know. But that’s not my fault. My duty is just to remind you of your obligations to this pack.”

Footsteps can be heard afterwards, and Liam leaves Harry’s flat without any more words. Great, now Louis is driving a wedge between the pack alpha and pack beta out of everyone too.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe leave some feedback if you're up for it :)


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